Spring At Last colt wins thriller Memorial H.

Rookie Gladden overcame a slow start and a wide trip to take the $50,000 Babst/Palacios Memorial S. Saturday in the final day ever feature race at Beulah Park (VIDEO), which is closing after 91 years of racing.

The 4-year-old colt by Spring At Last also outlasted a surging Candy Bites on the wire, winning the six furlong contest by a nose in 1:11.89. This was the first stakes win for the Ohio bred, who has taken five of seven lifetime starts for owners Jim Gladden and Kay Reed.

Rookie Gladden is out of the stakes-placed Skip Away mare Whitewater Wave, who is a full sister to three-time stakes winner Whitewater Way.

Spring At Last, sire of a champion and more graded stakes winners than any other 2013 sophomore sire, stands this year at WinStar Farm for $15,000 stands and nurses.