After a prolonged duel, Sanford Goldfarb's Loving narrowly defeated Private Lap to take the $100,000 Brandywine Handicap at Delaware Park Saturday. Loving, ridden by Mario Pino, and Private Lap, ridden by Norberto Arroyo, battled through early fractions of :48.30 for the half mile and 1:12.32 for the three-quarters mile before Loving prevailed by a head. The final time for the 1 1/16-mile Brandywine was 1:45.35 over a fast main track. Donald's Pride, with Anthony Mawing astride, finished third beaten a nose for second.Loving paid $8.20 as the third choice in the field of seven. Max Forever, the slight 5-2 favorite with Jeremy Rose aboard, finished fourth, nearly 4 1/2 lengths behind the winner.
Loving, an 8-year-old gelded son by Thundering Force, raised his record to 10 wins from 29 starts with earnings of $304,274. The Brandywine was the third victory from five starts this year for the Brazilian-bred trained by Richard Dutrow Jr."He broke great and he fought hard all the way," said Pino. "He fought the entire race. I really thought he would be back further early on, but when he broke so cleanly and quick, I let him stay
there. The pace was not as fast as I expected. I have been in a lot thrilling stretch drives and that was good. Those horses were really trying hard and Private Lap ran just as hard as my horse. It was a battle. I am just glad we had enough to win."(Chart, Equibase)