Speightstown colt shaves .01 off the track record
New Orleans, LA (February 19, 2022) – The expectations were high for Grandview Equine, Cheyenne Stables and LNJ Foxwoods’ Olympiad entering Saturday’s $250,000 Mineshaft Stakes (G3) at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, and his performance left onlookers wanting more.
Sent off as the 1.00-1 favorite under jockey Junior Alvarado, the 4-year-old son of Speightstown broke alertly and sat the perfect, pressing trip outside the unexpected pacesetter Silver Prospector through even fractions of 24.18, 48.11 and 1:12.48. He took the lead from his stubborn foe at the top of the stretch, and extended his margin of victory to 2 ¼ lengths under the wire, stopping the timer in 1:42.01 for 1 1/8th miles, shaving .01 off the previous track record set by Pie In Your Eye way back in 1994. It was another length back to Miles D in third.
“That’s the kind of horse that makes your work very easy,” Alvarado said. “He leaves the gate, you nudge him a little bit, and he takes you for a nice ride the whole way. The longer stretch (at Fair Grounds) helped him today. He’s a horse that needs more than a 1/16th mile stretch run to pick it up and he proved that today.”
Not once on the lead past the opening quarter or half mile in any of his career route races, Silver Prospector unexpectedly landed on the front end early from post two.
“He broke well, he put himself there,” jockey Joel Rosario said. “He enjoyed what he was doing, really comfortable. I thought it was an honest pace. Turning for home I thought we had him, but he got beat by a nice horse today.”
It was the first career graded stakes win in the promising career of the lightly raced Olympiad, who now boasts a career resume of 7-4-1-1 with $348,440 in the bank.
Fair Grounds Press Release
Photo: Hodges Photography
