Point Piper flies to record-setting Longacres Mile victory

Point Piper hadn’t visited the winner’s circle in a year entering Sunday’s $200,000 Longacres Mile Handicap (G3) at Emerald Downs, but the Jerry Hollendorfer trainee flew home in the stretch to post a track record-setting victory under jockey Mario Gutierrez.

The six-year-old son of Giant’s Causeway has faced some pretty tough company this year, running third on two separate occasions to Grade 1 winners, but hadn’t been seen in competition since a fourth-placing in the Californian Stakes (G2) on May 22.

Point Piper obviously relished the layoff as he returned ready to run in this contest. The bay blasted free from the pack in the stretch and sailed over the fast main track to score by 4 3/4 lengths while stopping the clock in 1:32.90, a new record for a mile at Emerald Downs.

He easily beat stablemate Cyrus Alexander, winner of the Lone Star Park Handicap (G3) two back, to give Hollendorfer a one-two finish in the Longacres Mile.

Point Piper now boasts a pair of stakes wins, with his last triumph coming in the Harry F. Brubaker Stakes at Del Mar on August 26, 2015.

The Kentucky-bred is out of the Sadler’s Wells mare Imagine, who captured the Epsom Oaks (Eng-G1) and Irish One Thousand Guineas (Ire-G1) in 2001. Point Piper claims Group 2 hero Viscount Nelson as a full brother and Group 1 hero Horatio Nelson as a half-brother.

Screenshot of Point Piper