Shakertown

Sam-Son Farms' homebred SOARING FREE (Smart Strike), the reigning Horse of the

Year in Canada, successfully defended his title in Saturday's $113,300

Shakertown S. (G3) at Keeneland. A 1 1/2-length winner of last year's edition

off a six-month break,

the Mark Frostad trainee utilized the same front-running trip that worked so

well last season to take the 5 1/2-furlong firm turf test by a neck. Settled

about four wide by jockey Jerry Bailey, the dark bay gelding broke on top,

but lost the first quarter in :21 2/5 to Chosen Chief (Marquetry). He would not

be headed at any other call, getting splits of :44 1/5 and :56 before stopping

the clock in 1:02 1/5.

"He is the quintessential warhorse," Bailey said. "He waits for the

competition, so when the other horse came to us, he was ready."

Sent off the 6-5 favorite, Soaring Free was returning off a six-month layoff

yet again here and paid $4.60, $3.20 and $3 while keying

the $25.40 exacta and $726 trifecta. Mighty Beau (Rainbow Prospect), who broke

in the air before taking up position along the inside, came out seven wide in

the stretch and just missed to return $5 and $4.20 at 5-1. Parker Run

(Glitterman), another half-length farther back in third, was worth $13.20 as the

86-1 longshot, and next came Battle Won (Honour and Glory), who ended the nice

$5,985.60 superfecta (4-2-10-9). Completing the order under the wire were Chosen

Chief, Wrzeszcz (Langfuhr), Pomeroy (Boundary), Del Mar Show (Theatrical [Ire]),

Red Lightning (Storm Boot), Relaunch Star (Opening Verse) and Heckle (Hennessy).

Soaring Free was named champion sprinter in Canada in 2003 and champion turf

horse as well as Horse of the Year last

year, and adds this win to victories in the Atto Mile S. (Can-G1), Nearctic H.

(Can-G2), Scotts Highland H. (Can-G3) as well as back-to-back scores in the Play

the King H. (Can-G3) and Ontario Jockey Club S. His line now reads 23-14-3-0

with $1,987,790 in lifetime earnings.

The Ontario-bred six-year-old is out of stakes winner Dancing with Wings

(Danzig) and is a half-brother to Puffin Island (Pleasant Colony), who is the

dam of Canadian Grade 2 winner Shoal Water (Smart Strike), and an unnamed 2005

filly by Grand Slam.