COMMONWEALTH STAKES | PURSE: $175,000 | 4-YEAR-OLD & UP | GRADE 2 | 7 FURLONGS
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Lonesome Street got the perfect pace scenario ahead of him when rallying for a 2 1/4-length victory Saturday in the 26th running of the Grade 2, $175,000 Commonwealth Stakes at Keeneland.
With Joel Rosario aboard for trainer Mike Maker, Lonesome Street rallied from well back in the seven-furlong Polytrack race, returning $10 as fourth choice in a field of seven older horses. Bergerac, the 5-2 favorite, finished second, another 2 1/4 lengths before Right One.
Comedero and Plutonium engaged each other on wicked fractions, going in 22.42 and 44.85 seconds when escorting the field to the quarter pole. From there, the scene quickly changed, with both of those speedsters backing up while Right One and Bergerac took over. But it was the outside run of Lonesome Street, who was last down the backstretch, that got it all, as he sailed away to finish in 1:21.17 for his fifth victory in 24 career starts.
"I got a perfect trip," said Rosario.
Ken and Sarah Ramsey are the owners of Lonesome Street, a 5-year-old horse bred in Kentucky by Jon and Sarah Kelly. He earned $105,000 to bump his career earnings to $358,585.
The victory was easily the biggest so far for Lonesome Street, who won a minor stakes last summer at Indiana Downs for his first stakes win. He had won just one of his eight prior starts, all but one of them on turf, mostly at two turns.
After the top three came El Gran Sol, Plutonium, Comedero, and Philippe.
The $2 exacta (5-7) paid $38.80, the $1 trifecta (5-7-2) paid $65.20, and the dime super paid $56.14.