Once a promising two-year-old whose sophomore campaign was halved by injury,
Fury Kapcori is now hitting his stride as a four-year-old, remaining perfect
from four starts this year with a front-running display in Saturday’s Grade 3,
$100,250
Precisionist Stakes at Santa Anita.
Co-owned by Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer in partnership with Rick
Awtrey and George Todaro, the 2-5 favorite posted splits of :23 1/5, :46 2/5 and
1:10 1/5. Regular rider Rafael Bejarano gave him the cue turning into the
stretch, and Fury Kapcori drew off with authority by 5 3/4 lengths. The son of
Tiznow covered 1 1/16 miles on the fast main track in 1:42 and paid $2.80 to
win.
“My horse is getting better every time he runs,” Bejarano said. “He’s a big
horse. He shows me a lot of speed and he’s learning more with every race.”
Handsome Mike gave valiant chase in second throughout, but was no match for
the convincing winner. The runner-up was best of the rest by three-quarters of a
length from Majestic City. American Blend took fourth, and Secretsatmidnight and
Batti Man concluded the order under the wire. Zeewat, another Hollendorfer/Todaro
runner, was withdrawn.
Fury Kapcori’s third stakes victory, but first at the graded level, advanced
his scorecard to 14-6-4-1, $479,880. The winner of the Charlie Palmer Futurity
at Fresno, he finished second in both the Real Quiet and CashCall Futurity at
Hollywood. Those fine efforts in the fall of 2012 made him an interesting
prospect for the 2013 Triple Crown trail, but he was unfortunately sidelined by
injury.
Fury Kapcori didn’t return until last summer at Del Mar, and missed by a head
in the El Cajon in his second start off the layoff. After a fifth in the
September 21 Pennsylvania Derby at Parx, he reverted to allowance company and
began working his way back into form. Fury Kapcori announced that he was back in
business with a 2 3/4-length score over this track and trip on New Year’s Day,
and he has since added another allowance on February 7 and the March 30 Santana
Mile.
“Last year, we were a little bit disappointed,” assistant trainer Dan Ward
said. “But when you look back, they were all good races and he just likes this
track. He’s maturing, like it’s (the Santa Anita track) his now.”
“That’s why we didn’t go to Oaklawn (for the Oaklawn Handicap on April 12),
and that’s why we didn’t go to the Alysheba (Stakes run Friday at Churchill
Downs) because we’re pointing to this series here — the Precisionist, the
Californian (on May 31) and the Gold Cup (June 28).”
Bred by Diamond A Racing Corp. in Kentucky, Fury Kapcori was purchased by
Hollendorfer for $100,000 as a Keeneland September yearling. The bay colt is a
full brother to Grade 2 victress Tizfiz and a half-brother to stakes scorer
Dixie Commander. This is the family of Horse of the Year Favorite Trick.
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