Anarchist © Benoit Photo
Handled perfectly by old pro Ramon Vazquez, Ilium Stables’ Anarchist stayed closed early, then took over at the top of the stretch and went on to a length and three-quarters victory Saturday afternoon at Del Mar in the Grade II, $252,500 Pat O’Brien Stakes.
The 4-year-old colt by Distorted Humor ran the seven-furlong distance in 1:23.21 and took down a first prize of $150,000 to push his bankroll to $460,508. In 12 lifetime starts, Anarchist has been either first or second in 10 of them.
Finishing second in the dash was B-4 Farms’ Bye Bye Bobby, who closed from far back to best the 9-year-old C Z Rocket – owned by Altamira Racing Stable and partners – by a length. This was C Z Rocket’s fourth go in the O’Brien and he now has a first, a second and a third in the stakes.
Anarchist picked up an invitation to the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile with his tally, assuring himself a spot in the starting gate for the $1,000,000 race at Santa Anita on November 4 with all fees paid as part of their “Win and You’re In” program.
The bay colt is trained by Doug O’Neill and went favored in the 10-horse lineup. He returned $7.00 as the favorite to those who backed him to win.
Once again the track’s popular Pick Six was not hit and its carryover climbed to $255,282 for Sunday’s card. First post for the 10-race program will be 2 p.m.
RAMON VAZQUEZ (Anarchist, winner) – “He was good today; full of run. I took a little hold on him and he was fine with it. Then when I asked him, he really went. He was a runner today.”
DOUG O’NEILL (Anarchist, winner) – “We loved when they drew the race and he was on the outside. Ramon saved a lot of energy and he got good position. Angelo and James, the owners of the horse, we all wanted to try and make the finish line the quarter pole. If you can win the quarter pole, you’ve got a chance to win. He doesn’t have a big stretch run but he grinds it out and we were hoping if he was leading turning for home we’d have a big chance and it worked out perfectly.”
FRACTIONS: :21.49 :44.44 1:09.66 1:23.21
The stakes score was the third of the meet for rider Vazquez and the first for trainer O’Neill.
This was rider Vazquez’s first victory in the Pat O’Brien, but his seventh stakes win overall at Del Mar.
This was trainer O’Neill’s second win in the O’Brien (the other was with Goldencents in 2014). He now has 45 stakes victories at Del Mar.
The horse is owned by Ilium Stables, which is the nom de course for Angelo Freda from Connecticut.