Durante. (Jenny Doyle/Past The Wire)
Darren Rogers/Churchill Downs
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Longshot Durante, owned and trained by David Jacobson, took advantage of a torrid early pace set by Skelly and World Record and surged past the latter late to win Saturday’s 37th running of the $275,000 Aristides (Grade III) at Churchill Downs by one length.
Durante, off at odds of 33-1, paid $2 mutuels of $68.44, $15.74 and $5.62 – the largest win payoff in the history of the race.
Skelly, the odds-on 4-5 favorite and expected early leader, broke slow from the gate, and Durante, breaking from post No. 2, found himself in front in the field of six older horses shortly after the break.
Durante, with Jose Ortiz aboard, opted to back off the quick pace from the rail as Skelly rushed to recover and takeover with World Record, at odds of 8-5, tracking just off his right hip.
“He broke like a rocket, but I was able to give him a breather around the turn,” Ortiz said.
Skelly and World Record zipped race-record quarter-mile fractions of :20.93 and :43.61 as Durante kept on in third along the inside. Leaving the turn, World Record put away Skelly at the top of the stretch, but Durante tipped out and surged past World Record inside the final sixteenth of a mile to score the upset win.
“In the stretch, he came on again and really finished up well,” Ortiz said. “I think it was a really good field today and could beat one another on any given day. Today, it was our day.”
Durante clocked six furlongs over a “fast” track in 1:09.23 and earned $168,105 for the triumph. He now boasts a record of 38-10-6-5—$821,743.
Runner-up World Record, under Flavien Prat, paid $3.42 and $2.74 to place. There was a dead-heat for third. Giant Mischief, at odds of 4-1 under Irad Ortiz Jr., paid $2.36. Happy Is a Choice, at 11-1 under Rey Gutierrez, returned $2.68. Both finished a neck back of the runner-up.
The order of finish was completed by Here Mi Song and Skelly. Champlin was scratched.
This was Durante’s second stakes win. In 2023, he won the $200,000 Bold Ruler (GIII) at Aqueduct.
Prior to the Aristides, Durante finished third in an allowance/optional claiming event at Churchill Downs on May 16.
Durante is a 6-year-old gelded son of Distorted Humor out of the Pioneerof the Nile mare Seahawk Girl. He was bred in Kentucky by William Humphries & Altair Farms LLC.
The Aristides is a Breeders’ Cup Dirt Dozen Bonus Series race for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint to be held Saturday, Nov. 1 at Del Mar. The nominated winner will receive a credit of $30,000 toward entry fees into the Breeders’ Cup Sprint with the second and third place finishers receiving a $15,000 and $7,500 credit, respectively.
The Aristides is named in honor of the inaugural Kentucky Derby winner of 1875.
Aristides Quotes
Flavien Prat (jockey, World Record, runner-up): “I’m proud of how he ran – he tried hard the whole race.”
