Gimme Da Lute hits winning note in Los Alamitos Derby
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Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman's homebred Gimme Da Lute (Midnight Lute) fought off a determined Prospect Park (Tapit) to take Saturday's $350,000 Los Alamitos Derby (G2) by a nose on the wire for trainer Bob Baffert. The bay colt broke on top with 2-5 favorite Kentuckian (Tiznow), ran with that one entering the first turn, but eventually settled into a stalking position just off his flank. Jockey Martin Garcia guided Gimme Da Lute as Kentuckian set splits of :23 1/5, :46 3/5 and 1:10 on the backstretch. The duo ranged up closer to the pacesetter entering the final turn and had taken command by the time they hit the lane. By this point Prospect Park, who bided his time in the second flight behind the front runners, began his move and challenged Gimme Da Lute. The pair duked it out all the way to the finish line, with Gimme Da Lute just getting the head-bobbing win in a final time of 1:47.09 for 1 1/8 miles over the fast Los Alamitos dirt. The time was just .08 seconds off the 1:47.01 track record set by Shared Belief (Candy Ride) in last year's running of this same race.
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Gimme Da Lute paid $8.60 as the 3-1 second choice. It was another 7 3/4
lengths behind Prospect Park to Kentuckian, with Follow Me Crev (Quality Road)
and Pain and Misery (Bob and John) bringing up the rear.
Gimme Da Lute earned his second straight graded score in the Los Alamitos
Derby, having triumphed in the Affirmed S. (G3) at Santa Anita Park on June 7.
The bay colt, who began his career on January 31 with a close nose second at
Santa Anita, scored by 5 1/4 lengths while making his stakes bow in the Echo
Eddie S. two races later and followed that up with thirds in the Pat Day Mile
(G3) and Chick Lang S. at Churchill Downs and Pimlico, respectively.
The California-bred improved his career line to 4-1-2 from seven lifetime
starts and nearly doubled his bankroll to $457,560 with Saturday's score.
Gimme Da Lute is the first registered winner out of Casino Gold (Proud
Citizen) and comes from the same female family as Group 2-placed Albertine
(Irish River), dam of 1993 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) upsetter Arcangues (Sagace)
as well as the ancestress of numerous Grade/Group 1 winners and classic-scoring
runners.
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