Winchell Thoroughbreds and Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen did more than win the $310,430 Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap (G3) July 6 with their millionaire Red Route One. They also took home second place when front-running Unload held the runner-up spot in the richest race of the Prairie Meadows season.
Unload—to whom the betting public paid scant respect at 66-1 odds, apparently viewing him as merely a pacemaker for his more accomplished stablemate—did ensure pace for Red Route One, but he also gave him a scare. He led until the closing 100 yards of the race before fatigue finally set in, and Red Route One rallied to prevail by a half-length.
Velocitor crossed the wire in third but was demoted to fourth by stewards after an inquiry. Ain't Life Grand, fourth passing the winning post, was elevated to third, having been bumped by Velocitor.
Winning rider Cristian Torres saw the bumping between those horses to his inside and felt confident stewards would not take any action against his horse.
"I felt I was good. I kept my lane on the outside," he said.
Red Route One raced 1 1/8 miles on a fast track in 1:49.62, returning $9 to win.
Favored Hit Show never threatened and finished seventh.
A homebred for Winchell Thoroughbreds, Red Route One is by Gun Runner out of the Tapit mare Red House. One of the country's top sires, Gun Runner stands for a private fee at Three Chimneys Farm.
Video: Prairie Meadows Cornhusker H. (G3)
A race before, Henro, making his first start in a route after six career starts in sprints, upset heavily favored Just a Touch by a head in the evening's secondary feature, the $250,000 Iowa Derby.
Tracking a contested pace, Henro saved ground around both turns and found a seam in the stretch that gave him the daylight he needed. The diminutive Collected gelding then determinedly passed his larger rival. He raced 1 1/16 miles under Rafael Bejarano in 1:42.72.
Chris Hartman trains the Brereton Jones-bred Henro for owners JD Thoroughbreds and Joey Keith Davis. He paid $11.60 for a $2 win wager.
Blue Grass Stakes (G1) runner-up Just a Touch, returning after a last-place finish in the May 4 Kentucky Derby (G1), was a clear runner-up, 3 1/4 lengths ahead of weakening pacesetter Northern Flame.
Video: Iowa Derby (BT)
Earlier Action
- Gilder Schwarz Farm's late-running Arrogate filly Just Basking ($5.60) triumphed in her stakes debut, swooping past rivals to win going away by 4 3/4 lengths in the $220,500 Iowa Oaks. Chris Landeros piloted the Ian Wilkes trainee, who was hand-timed racing 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.40. Formerly a grade 3, the Iowa Oaks was run under listed status this year after it was downgraded by the American Graded Stakes Committee.
- The night's Thoroughbred stakes action kicked off with a Prairie Gold Juvenile Stakes victory from White Sands, a now 2-for-2 daughter of Into Mischief who is a half sister to 2021 champion male sprinter Jackie's Warrior . She drew off by 13 3/4 lengths and won geared down in the $101,750 race under Joe Bravo with 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:04.18. The Wesley Ward trainee races for the Coolmore-affiliated Mrs. John Magnier and Mrs. Paul Shanahan and paid $5.20 to win.
