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Fairbanks a popular winner of Hawthorne Gold Cup For the first time in more than two years, Team Valor Stable's FAIRBANKS (Giant's Causeway) has made consecutive trips to the winner's circle. On Saturday, the bay five-year-old earned the most lucrative score of his career with a 2 3/4-length tally in the $500,000 Hawthorne Gold Cup (G2). Tracking well off the rail in third early, Fairbanks rallied four-wide rounding the far turn and drove clear to register the victory in a time of 2:04 2/5 over the fast track under Richard Migliore. Barcola (Old Trieste) went to the front and at one point led by 1 1/2 lengths through fractions of :23 4/5, :48 4/5, 1:13 2/5 and 1:39. Rating in second throughout was Better Than Bonds (Sweetsouthernsaint), who moved up to engage that rival at the top of the stretch, but both were swiftly overtaken by Fairbanks. Magna Graduate (Honor Grades) was squeezed a bit trying to rally at the head of the stretch, but continued on with good courage to edge the late-coming Wayzata Bay (Roar) by a neck for second. Brothers Nicholas (Smart Strike), who was never involved, finished 4 3/4 lengths back in fourth and was followed under the line by Better Than Bonds and Barcola. Sent off at 3-5, Fairbanks returned $3.40, $2.40 and $2.10 while topping the $10.20 exacta, $32.80 trifecta and $111 superfecta (5-4-1-2). Magna Graduate, the 7-2 second choice, paid $3.40 and $2.60 while 8-1 Wayzata Bay brought back $3. Canela (El Corredor) was scratched in favor of the Kentucky Cup Classic (G2), where he ran third. Fairbanks, whose most prestigious victory prior to the Gold Cup occurred in the 2007 Tokyo City Cup H. (G3) at Santa Anita, kicked off his 2008 campaign with an unplaced effort in the Donn H. (G1), but came back to lose the Gulfstream Park H. (G1) by a half-length. Next unplaced in the Oaklawn H. (G2), Fairbanks traveled to Hawthorne and was sent off the odds-on choice in the Bill Hartack Memorial H. (G3), but relinquished the lead through the stretch to finish second, 3 1/2 lengths behind the winner. Following a near four-month break, Fairbanks returned at Saratoga on August 9 and was a convincing 5 3/4-length victor of the Duke of Magenta S. With this check, the Todd Pletcher trainee can now boast a $879,768 bankroll from a line of 18-6-4-0. The winner was bred in Kentucky by Kidder, Grigg and J. & J. Mamakos and fetched a bid of $1.85 million at the 2004 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga August Yearling Sale. Produced by the Time for a Change mare Alaska Queen, the bay was preceded in graded glory by his half-brother, 2001 Lexington S. (G2) hero Keats (Hennessy), and also has an unraced two-year-old half-brother named Smart Attire (Smarty Jones), as well as a yearling half-sister by Songandaprayer and a 2008 half-sister by Mr. Greeley.
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