Spin the King nipped Go Greeley by a nose in the $141,825 Clarendon Stakes (VIDEO) for Canadian-bred 2-year-olds at Woodbine July 7 to become the first stakes winner for his sire, Giant Gizmo .
Rating in third behind Maritime Pulpit in the 5 1/2-furlong Polytrack event, Spin the King made his bid to get the lead past midstretch, then prevailed over 3-10 favorite Go Greeley in the drive for the wire. The final time was 1:04.76.
Maritime Pupit paced the seven-horse field through an opening quarter mile in :22.87 and the half in :46.14. He finished third, two lengths behind Spin the King.
Sent off at 13-2 odds, Spin the King was ridden to victory by Luis Contreras for J. M. Stritzl Stable and trainer Brian Lynch.The dark bay or brown colt debuted June 16 at Woodbine with a close runner-up effort behind fourth-place Clarendon finisher Grom in a 4 1/2-furlong maiden special weight event.
Sire Giant Gizmo, a 9-year-old son of Giant's Causeway , stands at Adena Springs North in Aurora, Ontario, for CAN$4,000. A grade III winner during an 11-race career, Giant Gizmo began his stallion career in 2010 at Dr. Michael Colterjohn’s Gardiner Farms (now Paradox Farm), which bred Spin the King out of the winning Bold Executive mare Muriel.