Edited from Emerald Downs reports
Adreamisborn beat Demon Warlock by a length to win the 69th edition of the $250,000 Longacres Mile on Sunday at Emerald Downs.
Ridden by Hall of Fame jockey Russell Baze and trained by Jerry Hollendorfer, Adreamisborn covered the mile distance in 1:34 4/5 over the sloppy track and returned $10.80, $6.20 and $5.20.
After a slow start, Adreamisborn began to advance nearing the three-eighths pole. He drifted while rallying into the lane and took the lead in mid-stretch. Demon Warlock loomed as the only threat, but wasn't able to catch the eventual winner.
"I wanted to keep his attention," Baze said. "He ran a great race. He ran the way I hoped. It always means a lot to come up here and win this race."
The 5-year-old Kentucky-bred son of Kris S. out of Erica's Dream notched his fifth victory in 16 career starts and collected $137,500 to increase his lifetime earnings to $265,680 for owners Franks Farm. Adreamisborn was bred in Kentucky by John Franks and Jonabell Farm.
It marked the third victory in the Longacres Mile for Baze, who is the fourth all-time leading rider in racing history. Baze also won the Mile in 1988 with Simply Majestic and last year with Sky Jack, making Baze the first jockey in 38 years to win the race with two different horses in back-to-back years.
Bobby Jennings was the only other rider to accomplish the feat. Jennings won the 1965 Mile with Siempre and the 1966 Mile with Aurelius II.
Baze's cousin, Gary Baze, also won back-to-back runnings of the Longacres Mile, however, he accomplished it with the same horse, Trooper Seven (1980-81).
"You're always a little bit more confident going into a race when you have Russell riding your horse," said Hollendorfer, who saddled his first Mile winner. "I'm not sure how many races we've won together, one of these days I'm going to have to sit down and count them, but we've had a lot of success."
Demon Warlock, under Nathan Chaves, paid $8.60 and $6.20.
"We had a great trip," said Chaves, who won the 2002 Longacres Mile on Sabertooth. "He gave his all. The outside was just better than the inside, and I was stuck inside."
Mr. Makah, a 30-1 longshot, was third and returned $9.80.
"He ran a big race," said Scott Saito, who rode Mr. Makah. "I swung him out on the backside and he started to run when he wasn't getting dirt kicked in his face. He grinded them down."
American Fury, Metatron, Royal Place, Verkade, Poker Brad, Gratitude Attack, Best On Tap, Deputy Country and Salt Grinder completed the field.
(Chart, Equibase)
