McPeek trainee Frosted Departure. (Jim Mc/Cue/MJC)
David Joseph/Maryland Jockey Club
LAUREL, Md. – RT Racing Stable’s dual Grade 3-placed Frosted Departure, a sprinter-turned-router for Kentucky Derby (G1) and Preakness (G1)-winning trainer Ken McPeek, got to the lead and never looked back to register an impressive 8 ¾-length triumph in the $100,000 Deputed Testamony.
Ridden by Horacio Karamanos, Frosted Departure ($5.20) covered 1 1/8 miles over a fast main track in 1:51.34 to notch his third win in four starts and third overall in stakes company. Karamanos previously won the Deputed Testamony with Digger in 2007.
Frosted Departure broke running from the rail and wasted no time establishing his presence up front, going in 24.75 for a quarter-mile with multiple stakes winner Ain’t Da Beer Cold tracking in second, stakes winner Auto Glide sitting third and 7-5 favorite for Trouble fourth. The half went in 49.85 as Frosted Departure began to gain separation as his rivals scrambled to keep up, and the 4-year-old Frosted gelding galloped to the wire an easy winner. Time for Trouble made a belated bid to get second, 3 ½ lengths in front of Auto Glide, who had won four straight, with Auto Glide fourth. Shaft’s Bullet and defending champion Be Better were scratched.
“He’s a horse that was a sprinter originally and he was pretty successful as a sprinter,” assistant trainer Ray Bryner said. “Kenny had an idea one day let’s run him in a route, put him on the lead and see what happens.
“He generally doesn’t like to play well with others,” he added. “If they hook him, he’ll kind of give way [which] has a lot to do probably with why he’s still sound, but he doesn’t want to dig in when a horse hooks him. But if he’s on the lead he throws his ears up and keeps cruising.”
The Deputed Testamony pays homage to the last Maryland-bred winner of the Preakness Stakes (G1), who upset Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Sunny’s Halo in 1983. Bred and raced by Bonita Farm and Francis P. Sears and trained by Bill Boniface, Deputed Testamony also won the Haskell (G1) and Pimlico’s Federico Tesio during his 3-year-old season.
