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Cowtown Cat wires Illinois Derby WinStar Farm and Gulf Coast Farms' homebred COWTOWN CAT (Distorted Humor) broke on top and was never headed en route to an impressive 2 1/4-length tally in the 50th running of the $500,000 Illinois Derby (G2) at Hawthorne on Saturday. Sent to the front by Fernando Jara, the talented sophomore carved out splits of :24 4/5, :49 2/5, 1:13 2/5 and 1:38 2/5 for the opening mile, prior to completing the nine furlongs in 1:51 1/5 over the fast oval. The Todd Pletcher charge gave back $9, $5.20 and $4.60 as the 7-2 second choice, and keyed the $117.20 exacta, $513.40 trifecta and $1,040.50 (4-3-2-1) superfecta ($1). "I didn't expect (to have the early lead), but there was not a lot of early speed," assistant trainer Seth Benzel said. "I told Fernando to try and break well and place him forwardly. Fernando rode him perfectly. I think this colt is right there with the best of Todd's three-year-olds." Reporting for Duty (Deputy Commander) raced near the inside in midpack before coming out into the lane to finish three parts of a length clear in second at 24-1. The chestnut paid $16.20 and $7.40. Bold Start (Jump Start) was next, 3 3/4 lengths clear of fourth as the 4-1 third choice. Show was worth $4.60. Sacrifice Bunt (Storm Cat) completed the superfecta at nearly 13-1 and was followed by Catman Running (Tactical Cat), Quite Acceptable (Acceptable), even-money choice Cobalt Blue (Golden Missile), Family Talk (Talk Is Money) and Love Dubai (E Dubai). "He was spinning his wheels out there," Cobalt Blue's rider Victor Espinoza said. Cowtown Cat captured his second graded race in succession, following a score in the Gotham S. (G3) most recently. The chestnut boasts a career mark of 7-4-0-1, $488,463, including a third-place effort in the Swale S. (G2) two prior. The Kentucky-bred attracted a bid of $1.5 million at the 2006 Barretts March Two-Year-Olds in Training sale. He is the first registered foal out of the winning Tom's Cat (Storm Cat), and has an unnamed two-year-old half-sister by El Corredor, as well as an unnamed yearling half-brother by Proud Citizen.
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