Roscoe Pito confirmed his status as the Northwest's top 3-year-old male Monday by winning the $125,000 Emerald Downs Breeders' Cup Derby.The John Snow-trained Roscoe Pito entered the Derby with a two-race winning streak, having dominated the 3-year-old scene at Hastings in Vancouver, British Columbia. The change of racetracks did nothing to keep the gelding from continuing his winning ways as he defeated 3-2 favorite Condotierri by two lengths in a wire-to-wire performance in the 1 1/8-mile race."He got a pretty soft first fraction," said jockey Sam Krasner, who rode Roscoe Pito. "If you're going to give this horse an easy lead, he's going to be hard to catch at the end."Racing for the first time outside of Canada, Roscoe Pito set fractions of :23 1/5, :47 3/5, 1:11 3/5 and 1:35 3/5 before crossing the wire in 1:47 3/5. "I was a little worried with how he would handle being at a new track," said Snow, who co-owns the gelding with Raj Mutti and Gus Gomes, "but he handled it all like a champion."It was the fourth victory in seven career starts for the British Columbia-bred son of Light of Mine. Roscoe Pito collected $55,000 to increase his lifetime earnings to $147,116. He paid $5.80, $3.20 and $2.40.
Condotierri returned $2.40 and $2.20. "It was just too slow of a pace for us today," said jockey Gallyn Mitchell, who rode Condotierri.Knightsbridge Road, under Kevin Radke, paid $2.40 for the show. It marked the 10th consecutive Emerald Downs' stakes race Knightsbridge Road has hit the board in. (Chart, Equibase)
