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Giant wrecks Miesque's return Saturday's $100,000 Canadian Turf H. (G3) featured the return of recently crowned champion turf horse Miesque's Approval (Miesque's Son), but the 4-5 favorite never got in the hunt as the 16-1 outsider GIANT WRECKER (Giant's Causeway) posted a brave front-running victory beneath Javier Castellano. The Mark Hennig charge stopped the teletimer in 1:39 3/5 for the 1 1/16 miles over Gulfstream Park's firm turf to record his first stakes triumph. A homebred sporting the colors of Edward P. Evans, Giant Wrecker was pestered by Jet Propulsion (Double Honor) through an opening quarter in :23 1/5. Shrugging off that rival, he opened up a daylight margin while reeling off splits of :46 2/5 and 1:10. Jambalaya (Langfuhr) loomed menacingly leaving the far turn, but Giant Wrecker quickly rebuffed his bid. A more alarming threat proved to be Host (Chi) (Hussonet), who charged from far back in deep stretch, only to fall a head short at the wire. Jambalaya kept on resolutely for third, another three-quarters of a length back. "He had a beautiful trip," Castellano said. "There wasn't too much speed in the race, and he settled down and got comfortable down the backside. He was a little rank the first part and we had wanted to cover him up, but with the lack of other speed, I just let him go ahead and he held on until the end." "He's been a little slow developing, but he's been coming around," Hennig said. "I told Javier that if he does break sharp, 'Don't try to fight him.' We'll look at our options." Giant Wrecker furnished healthy mutuels of $34.20, $12.80 and $7.40. Host, the nearly 7-2 second choice, returned $5 and $4.40 in a sharp effort off a lengthy layoff, and Jambalaya gave back $4.60 to show as the third choice at nearly 4-1. The $1 exotics totaled $92.40 (exacta), $328.10 (trifecta), and with the 19-1 Kiss the Kid (Lemon Drop Kid) just a neck further adrift in fourth, the 3-4-2-6 superfecta ballooned to $2,507.90. Miesque's Approval, toting the top weight of 123 pounds, loped along at the tail of the field through the first half-mile, but the Breeders' Cup Mile (G1) winner didn't produce his usual late kick and wound up crossing the wire in fifth. Next came Jet Propulsion and Demeteor (Dehere). Better Than Bonds (Sweetsouthernsaint) was withdrawn. The Kentucky-bred winner improved his record to 15-6-0-2, $203,910. In three previous stakes attempts, the five-year-old chestnut's best finish was a third in the Knickerbocker H. (G3) at Aqueduct two starts back. Giant Wrecker was exiting a ninth-place effort in the Ft. Lauderdale S. over this course and distance. He was produced by the Buckaroo mare Homewrecker, who is also the dam of Grade 1 victor Prenup (Smarten); Grade 2 hero Cat's at Home (Tabasco Cat); multiple Grade 3 winner Honor the Hero (Hero's Honor), successful in 13 stakes; stakes hero and Grade 3-placed Capitalimprovement (Dixieland Band); and Marital Spook (Silver Ghost), herself the dam of Grade 1 winner and young sire Yonaguska (Cherokee Run). Giant Wrecker has a juvenile half-sister named Divorce Settlement (Stormin Fever).
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