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Hatta Fort scores in Perryville

Hatta Fort sneaked through on the rail to take the Perryville (Photo by Pat Lang/Keeneland Association) Godolphin's HATTA FORT (GB) (Cape Cross [Ire]) moved his way to the rail in midstretch and closed like a shot to earn a neck decision over Amazing Results (Grand Slam) in the $200,000 Perryville S. (G3) at Keeneland on Saturday. Trained by Saeed bin Suroor and piloted by Julien Leparoux, the bay was in no hurry early as Eaton's Gift (Johannesburg) led the field through opening splits of :22 2/5, :44 4/5 and 1:09 2/5 for the opening six panels. Approaching the final turn, Leparoux was behind a wall of runners but deftly found room along the rail to commence his winning run. His mount did the rest, flying home to complete the about seven furlongs on the Polytrack in 1:25 4/5. "You have to take a shot sometimes," Leparoux explained about taking the inside route. "I knew we had to be lucky to win. I could have tried to go outside, but Rene (Douglas on Amazing Results) was on the outside. I would have had to wait so I took a shot at the inside." Sent off as the 7-2 second choice, Hatta Fort paid $9.60, $4.60 and $3 while keying the $50.20 exacta, $176.40 trifecta and $1,535.80 superfecta (10-12-1-5).

Amazing Results made a huge move while at least six wide in the stretch and appeared to be gone, but just missed late in a fine second-place showing. The runner-up was worth $6.60 and $3.60 at 6-1. I'm So Lucky (Langfuhr) was in good position throughout and finished well to be a clear third, just three parts of a length shy of the place. Show was good for $2.40 on the 6-5 choice. Eaton's Gift hung on to cap the superfecta at 20-1, and was followed by Liberty Bull (Holy Bull), Fidelio (Awesome Again), Wise Answer (Wised Up), Godolphin Gray (Explicit) and Meal Penalty (Tale of the Cat). Nickel Shooter (Exchange Rate) broke down at the top of the stretch and was pulled up. Ready's Image (More Than Ready) and West Express (Forestry) were withdrawn.

Hatta Fort made his U.S. debut on this oval in the spring and put forth a furious rally to just miss in the Lafayette S. The sophomore notched the Superlative S. (Eng-G2) as a juvenile and also placed in that year's Windsor Castle S. His career line reads 13-4-1-3, $347,364.

"His best race was the first race in this country in the spring, and he basically ran back to it today," assistant trainer Rick Mettee said. "We didn't know if he'd beat a deep, tough field like this, but we were confident he'd run well anyway."

The winner was bred in Great Britain by Wellsummers Farm, and brought $243,129 at the 2005 Tattersalls December sale as a weanling. The bay is out of Oshiponga (Barathea [Ire]) and has an unraced two-year-old half-sister named Raskutani (Dansili [GB]). This is the same family as Italian champion Inchmurrin (Ire) (Lomond) and multiple Group 3-winning sire Inchinor (GB) (Ahonoora).

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