Arson Squad scores in Alysheba

Arson Squad scored his second straight with new jockey Paco Lopez (Neville Hopwood/Horsephotos.com)

Jay Em Ess Stable’s ARSON SQUAD (Brahms) bided his time in Friday’s
$169,650

Alysheba S. (G3) at Churchill Downs, saving his best run for the
stretch of the 1 1/16-mile test, and pulled away to score by 2 1/4
lengths with jockey Paco Lopez guiding him to a second straight win.
Trained by Richard Dutrow Jr., the seven-year-old gelding stopped the
clock in 1:43 1/5 to return $9.80, $5.40 and $4.20 as the 7-2 second
choice while keying the $128 exacta and $1,108 trifecta.

Friesan Fire (A.P. Indy) went up to lead the field through splits of
:24 4/5 and :48 4/5 with Enriched (High Brite) keeping in close
attendance to his outside. Cool Coal Man (Mineshaft) was racing just in
behind those two, and Arson Squad was tracking in fourth on the
backstretch. Friesan Fire couldn’t sustain his momentum into the
stretch, backing up along the rail, and the race suddenly opened up as
the rest of the field caught up with the front runners. Arson Squad
burst through from between horses to grab command and easily withstood
the rallies of Flying Private (Fusaichi Pegasus) and Enriched while
adding a fifth graded win to his resume.

“It was an easy race,” Lopez stated. “(Trainer Rick Dutrow) said, ‘Paco,
you know how to ride this horse. You won on this horse at Gulfstream. He
won easy.'”

Arson Squad will stay under the Twin Spires for the Stephen Foster (EquiSport Photos)

“I told Sam (Samantha Siegel) that if does run big in here, we’ll
just keep him here and run him in the June 12 Stephen Foster (G1)
because the horse does get along good with this track. And it is very
good timing for his next race. We expect him to show up. It looks like
he’s turning the tables. He’s run big twice and this jock really gets
along with him.”

Flying Private was the 11-1 seventh pick in the field to pay $9.80
and $6.60 for holding 15-1 longshot Enriched by 1 1/2 lengths on the
wire. Show gave back $8.20, and it was another half-length back to Prom Shoes (Include),
who ended the 7-8-9-5 superfecta that was worth $16,122. Chocolate Candy (Candy Ride [Arg]),
Cool Coal Man, Macho Again (Macho Uno), Friesan Fire and Bullsbay (Tiznow)
completed the order of finish.

The veteran Arson Squad hasn’t lost a step, now showing wins in the
2006 Swaps S. (G2) and San Pedro S., 2007 Strub S. (G2), 2008
Meadowlands Cup S. (G2) and this season’s Skip Away S. (G3). The dark
bay has also placed in three other black-type tests, including the 2006
Lazaro Barrera Memorial S. (G2) and Affirmed H. (G2), and shows numerous
close fourth-placings, including last year’s Stephen Foster. Trained by
Bruce Headley up through the fall of 2008, Arson Squad now boasts a
27-8-1-4 lifetime mark to go along with $1,108,164 in accumulated
earnings.