Pants On Fire survived a stretch-long duel with favorite Mucho Macho Man to win the $1 million Louisiana Derby and punch his ticket to the 2011 Kentucky Derby. Nehro charged up to finish second while Mucho Macho Man rounded out the trifecta.
No excuses for Mucho Macho Man as you can't ask for much more than sitting three or four lengths off of a couple of frontrunners that go :47 through a half-mile. Unfortunately for the favorite, he didn't have the final burst of energy necessary to push on for home and he actually lost position inside the final furlong. (UPDATE: After the race trainer Kathy Ritvo stated that Mucho Macho Man lost a shoe soon after leaving the gate.)
Pants On Fire paid $14.60, $7.80, and $4.80.
The Pants On Fire/Nehro exacta came back $229.50 for $1.
Fractions:
1/4: 23.42
1/2: 47.53
3/4: 1:12.02
Mile: 1:37.24
Finish: 1:49.92
Internal Splits:
1/4: 23.42
1/2: 24.11
3/4: 24.49
Mile: 25.52
Finish: 12.68
In other prep races for the 2011 Kentucky Derby, Animal Kingdom used a last-to-first move at Turfway Park to win the Grade 3 Spiral Stakes over Decisive Moment.
I'll have more on this race and all of this weekend's stakes result later on.
Video Replay below.