Tango Tango Tango surged to the lead in upper stretch and pulled away for a two-length victory in Saturday’s $100,000 American Derby on the turf at Arlington Park, the first in the track’s series of grass races for 3-year-olds.
Tango Tango Tango is the first stakes winner for Tourist and fittingly came on the grass, where he had so much success, topped by the fastest-ever Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1) at Santa Anita Park.
Calumet Farm’s Tango Tango Tango was a maiden coming into Saturday’s race, but showed promise when making his grass debut on June 27, when he finished second. Despite the big step up in class, he got an ideal ride from Declan Cannon, sitting just behind the pacesetter Bodenheimer until taking the lead with a quarter-mile to go, then drawing off to stop the timer in 1:43.58 for the 1 1/16-miles on the firm turf.
The winner was bred in Kentucky by Frederick Wieting and upped his earnings to $76,291. The bay colt is out of First Council, whose siblings include multiple graded winner Slew’s Tizzy and two-time stakes winner Slew’s Tiznow.
