By Don Clippinger
The home-court advantage counted for something, to be sure, but Sue Sensor's Top Striker (Van Nistelrooy) ran the race of his life to win the $150,000 G1 Marion duPont Scott Colonial Cup and deny bid of Rawnaq (Ire) (Azamour {Ire}) for a perfect season and three Grade 1 victories.
Top Striker, a Grade 2 winner as of his previous start, overtook pacesetting Rawnaq at the last fence and drew clear by 10 1/2 lengths while cheered by a hometown throng in Camden, S.C.
Top Striker, 7-year-old gelding, certainly qualifies as a hometown hero. His owner lives in Camden with her husband, George. Trainer Arch Kingsley Jr. lives in Camden, too, and trains Top Striker there.
Top Striker's victory was the first Colonial Cup score for Kingsley as a trainer and his third overall. He previously won two editions as a jockey.
Top Striker, marked himself as a horse on the rise when he finished second in two Saratoga handicaps, beaten a skinny nose in one, and then won the International Gold Cup's G2 David L. “Zeke” Ferguson Memorialon Oct. 22 at 4.90-to-1 odds. The Ferguson in northern Virginia was a breakthrough race for Top Striker, and he improved off that effort.
“He trained just like the way he ran today,” Kingsley said. “He progressed very well.”
With the scratch of New York Turf Writers Cup (Gr. 1) winner Portrade, Rawnaq had the early lead to himself under Sean McDermott. Days of Heaven (Fr) (Sainte des Saintes {Fr}, an import still trained by Nicky Henderson, applied some pressure on the run down the backstretch the second time.
Top Striker and Geraghty never were outside striking range, and they advanced on the leader approaching the final flights of fences. Top Striker jumped the last in stride and drew off from a high-quality field. “He belongs in this group,” Kingsley said.
Top Striker ran the Colonial Cup's 2 3/4 miles in 5:12.40 on firm turf.
Cyril Murphy, Rawnaq's trainer, said the 2016 earnings champion came out of the Colonial Cup with no problems. “I didn't know if the other horse [Top Striker] wanted to go that fast. He did, and he won,” Murphy said.
Rawnaq is scheduled to have an overseas race early next year in preparation for the Ryanair World Hurdle and a shot at the $500,000 Brown Advisory Cheltenham-Iroquois Challenge Mar. 16. Rawnaq is eligible for the bonus after winning the Iroquois May 14.
Naylor, the year's champion owner with more than $900,000 in earnings, won the race after the Colonial Cup, a Ratings Handicap, with Lake Champlain, ridden by McDermott. In the winner's circle, Naylor joked with his rider: “That's what you were supposed to do in the last race.”
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
