From New York Glory to Lukas Classic Triumph, Equestrian Trainer’s Star Aims for Ultimate Victory

In equestrian sport, all the effort, training, and risk is for one thing, Win. The owners take a gamble while purchasing a horse and hand it over to a trainer to look after it and prepare it for the race. For multiple grade stakes winning trainer Chad Summers, was entrusted with the four-year-old colt Clapton by the owner RRR Racings.

He was to decide in which race to participate among the available options. He had Grade 2 Woodward, Grade 1 Awesome Again, and Grade 2 Lukas Classic. After analyzing he chose the last due to the pace in the race. Summers had won the Classic five years ago with New York-bred Mind Your Biscuits. Eventually, his analysis stood true and his colt claimed victory even after the odds.

Equestrian trainer’s horse wins the Classic

The famed equestrian trainer‘s trained four-year-old colt arrived at Churchill Downs finishing second in his last race at Saratoga. According to paulickreport, at the start of the nine-furlong distance $438,660 Lukas Classic race, Five Star General and American Revolution took the lead and set the pace. They covered the quarter mile in 23.12 seconds, half-mile in 46.66 seconds, and three-quarter mile in 1:10.83. Clapton closed the gap with the pacer setter and made a six-wide move to close on Trademark.  Trademark overcame the pace setters with three-sixteenths miles left for the end of the race. Clapton caught Trademark in the final stretch and won the race by a head distance. Clapton completed the race in 1:48.79.

The trainer Chad Summers was the happiest man of the day. Speaking after the win Summers said, “I’m so grateful to the owner for allowing me the opportunity to train this horse“. He had confidence in the colt and his next aim is the Grade 1 Dubai World Cup. Speaking on Breeder’s Cup he shared that it wouldn’t be a problem because Clapton showed today distance isn’t a problem for him. The jockey was too elated with the lightening performance of the colt.

Equestrian jockey all smiles after the win

The colt was bred by Joel Rosario at Belmont Park. But he was not available for the Lukas Classic race. Therefore, Cristian Torres replaced him and rode the colt at the race. He was happy with the way Clapton ran and responded to his call. He said, “Around the half-mile pole I could tell I had a lot of horse beneath me. I tipped him outside at the quarter pole and he kept coming with his run“.

A win at Churchill Downs is always special and winning at the big races like Classic is indeed enjoyable. For Clapton, this was his sixth win from twenty-four starts and raised his career earnings to $823,450.

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Clapton kept the faith of the trainer Chad Summers and proved his analysis of the race correct. With this furious display of pace, the colt has given more confidence to the owners and trainer to try him at the highest races.

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