Coup de Grace takes photo in Bay Shore

Fox Hill Farms, Inc.'s Coup de Grace pulled off the upset by a nose in

Saturday's Grade 3, $300,000

Bay Shore at Aqueduct. The Chad Brown charge

was sent off as the 7-1 fifth choice and paid $16.20 for his first stakes score.

The three-year-old colt bumped at the start and had to settle near the back of

the pack in the early going as Favorite Tale put up fractions of :22 2/5 and :45

1/5.

Coup de Grace started to pick up the pace around the far turn and swung five

wide into the stretch as The Admiral led the field before fading late. Coup de

Grace bumped slightly near the top of the stretch but gained position and found

himself in a fight to the wire with Oliver Zip. Those two dueled to the wire in

the final yards but it was Coup de Grace who won the head bob.

"The way I handicapped the race, it was a lot of speed," jockey Javier

Castellano said. "Chad (Brown) and I talked about the race and we tried to take

advantage of a lot of speed in the race. We tried to come from behind, quicken

it up a little bit.

"The distance, seven-eighths, I think he's a come-from-behind horse. He didn't

break that sharply, and it worked out great for me. I was able to relax behind

the horses. He finished very strong today."

Oliver Zip got up for second by a half-length over the fast closing third-place

finisher Kobe's Back, who broke last after striking the gate. The Admiral, Charleymillionaire, Financial Mogul, Favorite Tale and Loki's Vengeance rounded

out the order of finish.

"He didn't break," said Larry Benavidez, assistant to John Sadler, trainer of

third-place finisher Kobe's Back. "He's done that before, and somehow, he's got

to break that habit because it cost him the race. He's the only horse who closed

like that today. He ran huge and it hurts to lose like that."

Coup de Grace crossed the wire in 1:23 for the seven-furlong test over the fast

main track.

The son of Tapit broke his maiden at first asking over this track on November 9

and captured an allowance race at Gulfstream Park the following month to close

out 2013. The chestnut was entered in here off a 10th-place finish in the Holy

Bull in his stakes debut back on January 25. With Saturday's score, Coup de

Grace banked $180,000 to boost his bankroll to $248,100 from a 4-3-0-0 career

line.

Bred in Kentucky by AGS Thoroughbreds Ltd., Coup de Grace is out of the Grade

3-placed Storm Cat mare Home Court, who is a full-sister to stakes scorer One

Nice Cat. His third dam is Jewell Ridge, who produced the 1996 older mare

champion Jewell Princess. The chestnut's female family also includes Grade 2

winners My Princess Jess and Globalize.

Coup de Grace sold as a weanling for $215,000 at the Fasig-Tipton November

Sale and then brought $300,000 as a yearling at Keeneland September.

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