Amelia’s Wild Ride leads all the way in spill-marred Woodford

Amelia’s Wild Ride sped to the front at the break and led all the way in Saturday’s $150,000 Woodford Stakes at Keeneland. Moved from turf to 5 ½ furlongs on the main track, the race lost its Grade 3 status pending a review from the American Graded Stakes Committee.

A scary breakdown in midstretch cast a pall over the crowd as the winner was easily scoring by 2 ½ lengths. Shore Runner, the 3-1 favorite among 12 horses, broke down passing the eighth pole, displacing jockey Kendrick Carmouche. Speechify could not avoid the fallen runner and also fell, losing jockey Shaun Bridgmohan.

Carmouche was taken to the hospital for evaluation but was reportedly not seriously injured in the spill. Bridgmohan walked off the track under his own power. Shore Runner was vanned off the track and Speechify, who got up immediately after the incident, appeared uninjured as he left the track.

Owned by Silver Trail Stables LLC, Amelia’s Wild Ride is a 4-year-old son of D’wildcat. The Florida-bred colt earned his first stakes victory earlier this year in the Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint and captured the Pennsylvania Governor’s Cup in late May. A close third in the July 27 Lucky Coin at Saratoga two starts previously, the Ramon Preciado trainee was exiting a fourth in the September 7 Turf Monster (G3) at Parx.

With Saturday’s $90,000 payday, Amelia’s Wild Ride has now earned $393,840 from a 30-9-3-7 record. Saturday marked his fifth win on the main track but he is likely headed back to turf for the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G1) at Keeneland on October 31.

Jose Lezcano was up on the 14-1 eighth choice on the wagering. Amelia’s Wild Ride led by a half-length after a quarter-mile in :21.95 and was never seriously threatened the rest of the way, stopping the teletimer in 1:02.97 over a track rated muddy.

“He broke fast so I let him do his thing and he kept going,” Lezcano said. “It was pretty easy.”

Mongolian Saturday tracked throughout in second and wound up two lengths better than Stacked Deck in third. Sharp Sensation, Hogy, Quick Dagger, Holy Lute, Channel Marker, Havelock and Something Extra completed the order of finish.

Undrafted, Cyclogenisis, Mongol Bull and Summation Time were all scratched.

Amelia’s Wild Ride winning the Woodford courtesy of Keeneland/Coady Photography