Robert Lewis Stakes Result: Anthony's Cross stuns the bridgejumpers

A rank, headstrong heavy favorite, Tapizar, finished off-the-board in the Grade 2 Robert B. Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita.  Instead of a short-priced winner, fans were treated to a stretch duel between Anthony's Cross and Riveting Reason that was won by Anthony's Cross under the wire.  

If you were watching live on TV, you saw a grpahic that indicated that Tapizar ran the opening quarter in 19.11 seconds.  That appeared to be an error as a shot of the tote board following the race displayed an opening fraction of 22.48.  We'll have to wait for the official chart to accurately break down what happened on the front end.  

Anthony's Cross paid $18.60, $8.00, and $15.60.  Third place horse Quail Hill paid a whopping $48.60 to show...thanks to the bridgejumpers that ended up in the deep end after Tapizar finished out of the top three.

UPDATE: The official chart is now out and the TV fractions were, in fact, incorrect when initially displayed.  Below are the correct fractions for the Lewis: 

¼: 22.48
½: 45.64
¾: 1:09.07
Mile: 1:35.07
Final: 1:48.60

Broken out internally:

¼: 22.48
½: 23.16
¾: 23.43
Mile: 26.00
Finish: 13.53

Considering how fast Santa Anita has been playing this meet, the closing fractions for the Lewis are atrocious.  And while Tapizar did himself no favors by running the half in 45.64 and six in 1:09+, the way he threw in the towel in the final 3/16ths was not pretty. 

It's probably a bit early to draw any firm conclusions from any of these three-year-old races but, for now, the Lewis is going on the "weak" side of my race strength ledger.

Chart and video replay (via DRF.com)