ALBUQUERQUE -- Richard Keith’s American Dubai stayed close to a moderate pace and drew away in the homestretch to win Saturday’s 1 1/8-mile, $200,000 Downs at Albuquerque Handicap at Albuquerque Downs.
Ridden by Ken Tohill for trainer Rodney Richards and sent to post as the 5-2 second choice, American Dubai covered his 9-furlong trip in 1:49.90 while defeating 19-1 longshot Hereditary by a clear nine lengths. The 4-year-old Virginia-bred son of the Mr. Prospector stallion E Dubai was making his first-ever start at Albuquerque Downs, and he earned $114,000 to bring his bankroll to $406,122, of which $199,060 has been earned this year.
Texas Chrome, the 1-2 favorite and one of two millionaires in the nine-horse field, finished last.
American Dubai was scoring his first win since April 16, when he romped to a four-length victory in the 1 1/8-mile, $150,000 Sunland Park Handicap. In that race, the colt employed similar-type tactics to get the job done, and Tohill was aboard for that win as well.
“Tonight he was a little more reserved early, but I didn’t ask him at the head of the stretch either,” said Tohill, who is currently sixth in the jockey standings at the Prairie Meadows meet in Iowa. “I was pretty confident we had the race won going into the first turn. He was that relaxed and felt that good under me.
“He’s at his peak right now,” the rider added.
American Dubai has won six of his 15 starts while racing in five states, including Kentucky and Arkansas. Well-regarded during his 3-year-old campaign, the colt ran third in the 1 1/16-mile, $500,000 Southwest Stakes (G3) at Oaklawn Park, one of the key preps on the Triple Crown trail.
“This horse is actually starting to mature mentally,” said Richards. “The physical part is there -- it’s always been there -- but he’s just been a little slow to mature mentally.
“When he went into the (Grade 3) Steve Sexton Mile at Lone Star Park, he was just a little tired,” the trainer added, referring to American Dubai’s fifth-place finish in that May 7 stakes in Texas. “We’d been campaigning him pretty hard, and we thought about scratching him, but he always trains so well.
During the 2016-17 Sunland Park meet, American Dubai put together a four-race win streak that included the Sunland Park Handicap and an allowance-optional claiming route,, which the colt won by five lengths and broke the track record for one mile.
“We might look for a Grade 3 race going a mile for his next start, because I think this horse is actually more of a true miler,” Richards said.
Forest Mouse ran third, 9 3/4 lengths behind American Dubai, and was followed by Ol’ Winedrinker Who, Concord Fast, Neck ’N Neck, Overland Park, Real Heat and American Dubai.