Chip Honcho defeated in style Liberty Nationwide and former runner Crown the Buckeye to win the 1 1/16-mile Gun Runner Stakes for 2-year-old horses on Dec. 20 on the Fairgrounds.
It is no shock that the winner was coached by Steve Asmussen. Asmussen educated Gun Runner, the 2017 Horse of the Yr and eventual Corridor of Famer, and the origin of the race’s identify. Asmussen started racking up wins in races. He received the primary race with Gun Runner at Epicenter in 2021, added a second win with Truck Phantom in 2023, and now has his third win with Chip Honcho.
Chip Honcho and profitable jockey Paco Lopez, who many anticipated to set the tempo, sat in second place for many of the race as Ohio-bred twin stakes winner Crown the Buckeye posted fast instances of 23.62, 46.66 and 1:10.98 to take the lead. Clown the Buckeye elevated his lead within the center, however ran out of gasoline within the ultimate levels, protecting the ultimate 16 miles in 07.61 seconds.
“On the sixteenth pole, the place’s the wire? We wanted it,” stated Crown the Buckeye’s jockey Jareth Loveberry, praising Crown the Buckeye’s efforts.
Chip Honcho was in a position to go the chief. He completed 1 1/16 miles on the quick course in 1:44.76 and paid $9.80 to win.
Liberty Nationwide made a comeback from fifth within the six-horse discipline, profitable by three-quarters of a size and catching Crown the Buckeye by a head. The acceleration was slower than in his first win at Churchill Downs final month, and after the race jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. theorized that the stallion won’t have been as comfy on the within. Liberty Nationwide sprinted forward via the remainder of the sphere.
Clown the Buckeye held on in entrance of High quality Mischief in 4th and Very Related in fifth.
The primary 5 horses earned qualifying factors on the highway to the Kentucky Derby on a 10-5-3-2-1 customary introduced by Woodford Reserve.
The winner was a 2-year-old mare out of Join, owned by Leland Ackerley Racing, who scored his second win in three races. He led and received over a mile in his first particular weigh-in at Churchill Downs on Nov. 20, and was runner-up in a seven-furlong race in his debut at Keeneland on Oct. 16.
