Distorted Humor’s Dramedy put away My Afleet following an early duel and then held off a furious charge from several challengers in deep stretch to win the $250,000 Elkhorn S. (G2) Saturday afternoon at Keeneland.
Dramedy and My Afleet pulled away from the field early in the 1 ½-mile marathon, clearing off by a double-digit margin after hitting the half-way point in a moderate 1:16.31.
After getting the mile and a quarter in 2:05.37, the rest of the field started to close in. My Afleet began to fade, and Dramedy came under a ride from Joe Bravo. Dynamic Sky and Unitarian made progress, but Dramedy still had something left, winning by a neck in 2:31.17 over the “good” turf course.
“Every time he’s run, he’s closed at the end and been hard to pull up after going a mile, a mile and a sixteenth. So a mile and a half was perfect,” said Sandy Adkins (assistant to Gerry Aschinger, winning trainer). “When they said the mile went in 1:40, I said, ‘Oh my gosh. We’ve got this.’ Because I knew (jockey Joe Bravo would) have a ton of horse, and he did.”
“This horse, the first time doing the distance. I take my hat off to the whole team,” added Bravo. “Do you know how hard it is to get a horse ready for a mile and a half? He just thrived on it. Turning for home, he was like, ‘C’mon guys. Let’s go.’ ”
Dramedy, who was a fast-closing fourth in last month’s Appleton H. (G3) at Gulfstream, becomes the 129th lifetime stakes winner for Distorted Humor. With four graded stakes winners and 57 individual winners earning more than $2.3 million, Distorted Humor is in the top 10 on the 2015 General Sire list.
