Fort Washington prevails in a 4-way photo in the Canadian Turf (Coglianese)
David Joseph/Gulfstream Park
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Magic Cap Stable’s Fort Washington, rallied from off the pace under jockey Junior Alvarado to win Saturday’s $165,000 Canadian Turf (G3) by a nose Saturday at Gulfstream Park.
Trained by Shug McGaughey, Fort Washington, a 6-year-old by War Front beaten less than three lengths in the Pegasus World Cup Turf (G1), covered the 1 1/16-mile turf course in 1:39.31.
Stanley House, a 35-1 longshot, was hustled to the lead past even-money favorite Silent Heart going into the first turn and posted fractions of :23.65 and :46:80 while Silent Heart raced second, Major Dude third along the rail and Fort Washington last.
Approaching the final turn, Alvarado saved ground with Fort Washington, moving into contention along the rail while Major Dude and Silent Heart battled for the lead entering the stretch. Alvarado moved Fort Washington onto the four-path down the stretch and just got up in the final stride over Major Dude. Silent Heart was a neck behind in third and Irish Aces fourth.
It was McGaughey’s fourth victory in the Canadian. He won back-to-back stakes in 2014 with Reload and 2013 with Data Link and in 1986 with Vanlandingham.
Winning Trainer Shug McGaughey: (Fort Washington): “I was just hoping he could grind it out and they’d come back to him a little bit. With this course, short stretch — and when he didn’t break that good, which he’s got a tendency to do — so I was a little bit worried. That short stretch makes it a little harder for him to catch up. But Junior rode a great race. He saved ground. I thought he had him in a pretty good position if he had a chance. He always shows up. He ran a really good race in the Pegasus. He didn’t get beat that far. I’m optimistic when I bring him over here because I know he’s going to run his race, win or lose.”
Winning jockey Junior Alvarado (Fort Washington): “I had a great trip. I was probably a little farther back than I wanted to be. The track is playing very fast, but at the same time I couldn’t make my horse do something he doesn’t want to do. Just saved a little ground on the first and second turns and when I turned for home, he was there for me. I put him out in the clear and he came out with a good run. I knew it was tight, but I thought I had it at the end. I was hoping for a lot of speed in the race so that they could come back to me at the end. He’s such a trying horse. Last race he didn’t have the greatest trip and today it worked out much better.”
