Trainer Brad Cox and jockey Florent Geroux teamed up to sweep the graded stakes at Mountaineer on Sunday. Dragoon Guard wired the $500,000 West Virginia Derby (G3) to continue his ascent in the three-year-old division, while four-year-old Hit Show rallied up the rail to take the $200,000 West Virginia Governor’s (G3).
West Virginia Derby (G3)
Dragoon Guard was bet down to 7-10 favoritism in light of his front-running display in the July 6 Indiana Derby (G3). The Juddmonte Farms homebred kept it simple here to extend his winning spree to four.
Yet another up-and-comer from the final crop of Hall of Famer Arrogate, the gray glided through splits of :23.32, :47.62, and 1:11.96. Henro tried to take it to Dragoon Guard early, but lacked enough pace to bother the favorite. Unable to pick up from his stalking spot, Henro wound up retreating out of the frame.
Society Man, the next to take a run at Dragoon Guard, hoped to reprise Hit Show’s inside bid turning for home. But he didn’t get through. After having to alter course to the outside, Society Man flattened out down the stretch.
Then Dimatic kicked into gear from off the pace. Even this fresh rival couldn’t pose a serious threat, as Dragoon Guard stayed on too strongly in the final furlong.
Maintaining a 2 3/4-length advantage at the wire, Dragoon Guard clocked 1 1/8 miles in 1:49.96.
Runner-up Dimatic drew 2 1/2 lengths clear of Society Man. There was a 6 1/4-length break back to Henro in fourth. Agate Road failed to land a blow in fifth, and 55-1 longshot McQueen trailed.
Baxley, Mugatu, and Next Level were all withdrawn. The first two wisely opted for other spots on Sunday. Mugatu placed second in the off-the-turf Bald Eagle Derby at Laurel Park, and Baxley romped in a $50,000 claimer at Hawthorne.
Dragoon Guard, a neck away from being undefeated, has now bankrolled $646,860 from his 5-4-1-0 line. The Kentucky-bred just missed in his career debut at Churchill Downs last September to Otto the Conqueror, the eventual winner of the Remington Springboard Mile.
Not seen again until April, Dragoon Guard has progressed in accordance with his pedigree. He’s won all four starts this season by daylight, climbing the class ladder from a Keeneland maiden and an entry-level allowance at Churchill to a successful stakes and two-turn test in the Indiana Derby.
The West Virginia Derby suggests that Dragoon Guard could be ready for a more ambitious target. Might connections be tempted to try the Travers (G1), the historic Saratoga feature that launched sire Arrogate to stardom?
A further Saratoga angle comes courtesy of Dragoon Guard’s granddam, Flute, who won the 2001 Alabama (G1) over the Travers course and distance as well as the Kentucky Oaks (G1). Dragoon Guard’s dam, Filimbi, is a Grade 2-winning daughter of Flute, sired by fellow Juddmonte celebrity Mizzen Mast.
West Virginia Governor’s (G3)
Gary and Mary West’s homebred Hit Show saved all the ground turning for home, and that made all the difference as he defeated the wide-traveling Heroic Move by a half-length.
Heroic Move was himself bred by the Wests, and initially raced for them, before being sold. Ironically, Heroic Move outmoved his former stablemate Hit Show on the far turn. His circumnavigation on the outside might have played a role in Hit Show’s charting the inside path.
Both closers got an honest pace set-up courtesy of 33-1 longshot Play Chicken, who sped forward through fractions of :23.35 and :46.93. Extra Anejo, the slight 13-10 favorite over the 7-5 Hit Show, stalked in second and advanced to challenge passing six furlongs in 1:11.63. But Extra Anejo was making hard work of it, while Komorebino Omoide loomed alongside, and Heroic Move circled to join the fray.
By that point, Geroux had steered Hit Show into the yawning gap on the rail, and the gray punched home best of all. Covering 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.65, Hit Show improved his record to 12-5-1-0, $778,955.
Heroic Move had three-quarters of a length to spare over third-placer Komorebino Omoide. Extra Anejo faded to fourth, another 1 3/4 lengths back, in a hint that he could benefit from cutting back in trip. The outclassed trio of Rose’s Pepino, Play Chicken, and Discretionary Day concluded the order of finish. Tembo was scratched.
Both Hit Show and Heroic Move were rebounding from unplaced efforts in the Prairie Meadows Cornhusker (G3). The two were just a head apart that day, with Heroic Move taking sixth from Hit Show, who was a disappointing seventh as the favorite.
Hit Show, a veteran of the 2023 Triple Crown trail, was scoring his first stakes victory since last year’s Withers (G3). Denied by a nose in the Wood Memorial (G2), he finished fifth in the Kentucky Derby (G1) and a dead-heat fourth in the Belmont (G1). Hit Show didn’t build on those efforts when fifth in the Jim Dandy (G2) and sixth in the Oklahoma Derby (G3).
Freshened in advance of his 2024 campaign, Hit Show returned triumphant in a May 11 allowance at Churchill. The Candy Ride colt regressed at Prairie Meadows last out, but revived here, in keeping with his hit-or-miss tendencies.
Like Dragoon Guard, Hit Show was produced by an accomplished racemare. He’s out of the 2017 Black-Eyed Susan (G2) winner, Actress, herself a daughter of Tapit and Canadian champion Milwaukee Appeal.
