The richest race of the Churchill Downs fall meeting is the $500,000 Clark Handicap (G2). Nine older horses went 1 1/8 miles, with Ack Ack winner Istan the 2-1 favorite over Meadowlands Cup winner Diamond Stripes at 3-1 and Magna Graduate at 5-1.
Plug Me In and Fairbanks contested the early pace of 23.97, 47.61, and 1:11.41 over the fast track while Magna Graduate stayed in contention behind them in third. The pacesetters both tired at the top of the lane as Brass Hat moved up on the turn to take over the lead in midstretch. A.P. Arrow, who was impeded briefly by Brass Hat during his rally, closed the gap in late stretch and passed Brass Hat at the 70 yard pole, pulling away to a 3/4 length win in a time of 1:48.66. It was another 2 1/2 lengths back to Diamond Stripes third, while favorite Istan was left with too much ground to make up, finishing 1 1/2 lengths behind in fourth.
Winning trainer Todd Pletcher said, "The horse ran very well and the team did a great job here having him ready. I am very pleased. He is a horse that consistently has been running well. Today he got a really good position early and I think that made the difference. He is a horse that has had success on this track in the past year and we weren’t surprised that he handled the track. The plan before this race was that he would go down to Florida and point toward the Donn Handicap."
Jockey Ramon Dominguez added, "I was able to stay within striking distance and he was comfortable. I was able to split horses to get in front and just make sure that he was going to stay there. He wasn’t just opening up on the field but they weren’t making up any ground on him either. (Brass Hat) was always trying to charge him, but he was making sure that he was going to stay there."
Results chart
