First stakes winner for Pioneerof the Nile

Making just his second career start, Cairo Prince dominated Sunday’s Grade 2 Nashua S. at Aqueduct to give WinStar freshman sire Pioneerof the Nile his first stakes winner.

The Nashua win pushed Pioneerof the Nile’s progeny earnings to $572,765, putting him in the second spot on the Freshman Sire list.

Cairo Prince, coming off a 2 3/4-length debut win in a six-furlong maiden special weight race on Oct. 6 at Belmont Park, got away cleanly from his far outside post in the field of 12 to secure the fourth spot just two lengths off the lead for the backstretch run.

The gray or roan colt began to advance on the leaders entering the turn, came on even terms just before straightening for home, then drew away very quickly from the field, opening up by a half-dozen lengths before coasting under the wire.

Cairo Prince completed the distance of the one-turn mile affair in 1:37.59 over a fast track.

“He keeps improving,” said jockey Luis Saez, who also rode Cairo Prince in his debut. “Today, he was impressive. On the turn, he wanted to run, so I let him, and he was flying. I had a lot of horse at the top of the stretch and he just kept going.”

After the $150,000 payday, Cairo Prince as banked $192,000 for his owners Namcook Stables, Paul Braverman, Harvey Clarke, and Craig Robertson III.

“There was a strong headwind down the backside,” noted Arthur Magnuson, assistant to winning trainer Kiaran McLaughlin. “We thought he’d be pretty close, but you worry at the five-sixteenths pole about how much he has left after he’s made a run into that wind. Of course, you’re also excited about the Remsen S. (G2, Nov. 30 at Aqueduct) and Florida (Gulfstream Park) and next year in May (Kentucky Derby G1).”

Cairo Prince is the fourth foal out of Holy Bubbette, who has produced stakes horses Holdin Bullets and Nonna Mia. Holy Bubbette was a two-time stakes winner of $240,995. Bred in Kentucky by Richard and Katherine Elam, Cairo Prince sold for $250,000 to Namcook at the 2012 Keeneland September Yearling sale.