August Rain closed from 10th place, fended off traffic at
the top of the stretch and took a wide trip to victory Saturday night in the
Grade 3, US$144,488 Canadian Derby at Century Mile in Edmonton.
The win gave owner Peter Redekop, trainer Barbara Heads and
jockey Amadeo Pérez their second consecutive win in the 1 1/4-mile dirt race
for 3-year-olds. Abeliefinthislivin won for them last year in the race that is
part of the Western Canadian Derby Series that concludes Sept. 14 with the
British Columbia Derby at Hastings.
Click here for Century Mile entries and results.
A Sungold gelding bred in Canada, August Rain (5-4) settled
near the back of the 11-horse pack while Itsallgoodman (21-1) set pace-setting
fractions of 22.04, 45.37 and 1:10.41.
Itsallgoodman, who would finish last, faded in the second
turn while Pérez got more out of August Rain. Lord of Battle (33-1), who would
end up sixth, held the lead briefly through a mile in 1:37.57. August Rain
still was in seventh, but he had made up half the 10 lengths that separated him
from the lead.
Finding no room coming off the turn, Pérez tipped out and found
clear sailing. August Rain took the lead from J Dutton (5-1) in mid-stretch before
running on to a 2 3/4-length victory with a time of 2:04.94 on the fast track.
August Rain paid $4.50, $2.90 and $2.70 across the board. J
Dutton, who had been in mid-pack early, came in second and returned $5.30 and
$4.40. Roussette came from last to finish another 2 1/4 lengths back in third
and pay $11.60 to show.
A US$15,244 purchase last year at a Canadian Thoroughbred
Horse Society sale in British Columbia, August Rain is out of the Street Sense
mare Bitatude. All six of his wins from 10 starts have come in stakes, the Saturday’s
being his first in graded company.
Pérez won the Canadian Derby for the third time. He scored in
2019 after Explode was promoted from second to first when Journeyman was
disqualified.