Drawing clear in the stretch, Noble Bird, with jockey Shaun Bridgmohan riding, looked to be an easy winner in the $500,000 2015 Stephen Foster Stakes at Churchill Downs on Saturday, June 13, 2015.
But then here came Lea, the race favorite. Ridden by jockey Joel Rosario, the 6-year-old First Samurai colt ran four-wide around the final turn, dug down and set her sights on the race leader.
Closer and closer he came, but Noble Bird dug within himself as well, and held on to win the race by just a neck over the hard-charging Lea, while Hoppertunity, ridden by jockey Mike Smith settled for third, 5-1/2 lengths behind the second place finisher.
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| Noble Bird, with jockey Shaun Bridgmohan riding, held of Lea to win the 2015 Stephen Foster Stakes at Churchill Downs on Saturday, June 13, 2015. (Photo by Windy Wooley / EquiSportPhotos.com) |
“I’ve been around a lot of good horses and he’s been working about as good as I have seen a horse train – just week after week," said trainer Norman Casse, assistant trainer of Noble Bird and son of trainer Mark Casse. "He just ran in the Alysheba and ran a really big race in that, and he’s just gotten better from there and he rewarded our confidence."
In the race, Noble Bird broke cleanly from gate four, was guided over to the rail by Bridgmohan, and then settled in behind race leader, Paganol, for most of the race.
As the horses moved down the backstretch and into the final turn, Noble Bird began to pick up the pace and as he came out of the turn he took over the lead from a tiring Paganol.
As Noble Bird moved into the stretch, he continued to widen his lead, while behind him, Lea came barreling out of the final turn and began to give chase.
As the two got closer to the wire, Lea continued to close the gap, but Noble Bird caught sight of him and powered forward himself.
At the wire, it was Noble Bird by a neck, with Lea second and Hopportunity a distant third.
Rounding out the order of finish was Majestic Harbor fourth, followed by Cat Burglar, Commissioner and Paganol.
“He (Noble Bird) had been training very well and obviously he showed it tonight," said Bridgmohan. "He won three out of his last four races. He’s getting better. He’s been working like this in the morning so this performance was expected.
"That [Lea] is why I didn’t turn my stick over; I just kind of gave him a little reminder because he was trying and giving me everything he had. He’s been training very well and he’s a horse that is on the improve. He just ran lights out tonight. He’s been maturing and I think he’s going to be a horse to watch for. I think in every race he’s improved and he’s not lacking any talent. He’s a very talented horse.”
Owned by John Oxley, who lives in Midway, Ky., Noble Bird now has four wins, three seconds and $531,278 in earnings in 10 career starts. With the win, he also secured a spot in the starting gate in the Breeders" Cup Classic (G1), which will be held at Keeneland, Friday and Saturday, Oct. 30-31, 2015.
As to his next possible race, Casse said, "He’s trained extremely well and he wanted to win just as bad as we did. We’d probably have to look at the older horse races at Saratoga. I think he deserves to be in that discussion."
(Information courtesy of EquiBase.com, ChurchillDowns.com, BloodHorse.com and PedigreeQuery.com)
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