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Einstein arrives at the winning formula in Mervin Muniz
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Einstein proved he's a smart performer
(Photo Courtesy of Lou Hodges Jr.) |
Midnight Cry Stable's EINSTEIN (Brz) (Spend a Buck) overcame a horrendous
trip from post 11 to capture an eventful renewal of the $500,000
Mervin Muniz
Jr. Memorial H. (G2) at Fair Grounds on Saturday. The Helen Pitts trainee
was floated out five wide on the first turn while settling into a stalking
position, but that was just the beginning of his woes. Late on the backstretch,
9-5 favorite King's Drama (Ire) (King's Theatre [Ire]) bore out dramatically
before being pulled up. Einstein was again inconvenienced, but jockey Robby
Albarado managed to steer clear of the troubled King's Drama and get his mount
back into contention. After straightening into the stretch, Einstein overhauled
the longtime leader Transduction Gold (Formal Gold) and held off the late thrust
of Cloudy's Knight (Lord Avie) by a half-length. Sent off as the nearly 7-2
second choice, the five-year-old dark bay completed about 1 1/8 miles on the
firm turf in 1:49 2/5 to return $8.80, $5.40 and $3.80.
"He's a star," Pitts beamed. "He loves the game. He loves to run. He gives it
everything he has. That's the kind of horse he is. He'll run at horses, or he
won't let one go by him. With a horse like this, we've got the best of both
worlds."
Cloudy's Knight came charging from far back in a commendable runner-up
effort, yielding $17.20 and $8.40 at 22-1. The mare Naissance Royale (Ire)
(Giant's Causeway) made a menacing move in midstretch but flattened out a bit
for third, another 1 1/2 lengths back, to pay $4.40 at 6-1. Transduction Gold
set fractions of :23 3/5, :47 4/5, 1:11 1/5 and 1:36 3/5 before tiring late and
crossing the wire in fourth as a nearly 65-1 longshot. The exotics were worth
$144.60 (exacta), $877 (trifecta) and $10,981.20 (11-6-3-2 superfecta). Next
came Sweet Return (GB) (Elmaamul), Heat of the Night (SAf) (Casey Tibbs [Ire]),
Hendrix (Sultry Song), Macduff (GB) (Machiavellian), Desert Wheat (Wheaton) and
The Carbon Unit (Catienus). King's Drama did not finish.
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"He took a couple of bad steps on the backstretch and didn't feel right,"
jockey Edgar Prado said of King's Drama. "Hopefully it's nothing major. It
doesn't seem like anything's broken."
Einstein more than doubled his bankroll to $513,472 while improving his
record to 11-5-0-1. He was posting his second stakes victory, having taken the
2006 Gulfstream Park Breeders' Cup Turf S. (G1) in wire-to-wire fashion in his
stakes debut. In his latest venture, the progressive Brazilian-bred finished a
close third when trying to defend his title. Before heading to the sidelines
during the second half of 2006, he checked in fourth in both the Woodford
Reserve Turf Classic S. (G1) and Pan American H. (G3).
Bred by Fazenda Mondesir, the winner is out of multiple Group 1 queen Gay
Charm (Ghadeer), who is also the granddam of Brazilian Group 1 hero Istbestand
(Much Better). Gay Charm is herself a daughter of 1981 Gran Premio Diana
(Brz-G1) victress Virga (Waldmeister).
Pitts indicated that Einstein would take another crack at the Woodford
Reserve on May 5, Kentucky Derby Day at Churchill Downs.
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