Fabulous Strike, carrying high weight of 136 pounds, led from start to finish for a 1 ½-length triumph in the $111,200 Fall Highweight Handicap, the Thanksgiving Day feature at Aqueduct.
Trained by Todd Beattie for owner Walter Downey, Fabulous Strike was sent off as the even-money favorite by the holiday crowd of 3,239 and did not disappoint in winning his 11th race in his 18th career start while increasing his career bankroll to $874,552. The gelded son of Smart Strikedefeated He’s So Chic by 1 ½ lengths while getting the six furlongs in 1:09.02 and returned $4 to win.. Ferocious Fires was third, followed by Grand Champion, Gold Trippi, Silver Stetson Man, Idiot Proof ,and Nakayama Arashi. Songster and Stormin Normandy were scratched.
The Fall Highweight represented a return to the dirt main track for Fabulous Strike following his fifth-place finish in the Sentient Flight Group Breeders’ Cup Sprint on the artificial Pro-Ride surface at Santa Anita last month.
“He likes the dirt track, that’s for sure,” said Beattie. “And he likes New York. He trained well over synthetic, but at that level (Breeders’ Cup Sprint), if you take even a little off your top game, it is going to show. We’ll look at the Gravesend (grade III, $100,000, six furlongs, Aqueduct inner dirt track, Dec. 27) for a next start.”
“I’ve been very excited about this horse,” said Dominguez, who rode four winners on the card. “I have no doubt in my mind that he didn’t like the synthetic surface. Today, he showed who he is. In the second quarter (of a mile), I sensed they were putting a lot of pressure on. But he has a real high cruising speed and is able to relax, which is unusual. He is a superb horse.”
Nine of Fabulous Strike’s victories and his two placings have come in stakes races, including wins in last year’s Vosburgh Stakes (gr. I) at Aqueduct and the Aristides (gr. III) at Churchill Downs.