More Than Ready’s 3-year-old colt Tom’s Ready earned his second graded stakes victory on Saturday with a victory in the $100,000 Ack Ack H. (G3) at Churchill Downs, winning his first start against older horses and possibly setting up a start in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1) on Nov. 4.
With last year’s champion Runhappy the heavy favorite in the six-horse horse field, Tom’s Ready was well off the pace set by the favorite, who dueled with Mr. Z. through a half-mile in :45.95. Tom’s Ready, under Brian Hernandez, kicked into high gear with a little less than three furlongs to run and made the lead with a furlong to run as Runhappy began to fade.
Iron First made a run at Tom’s Ready in deep stretch, but the Dallas Stewart trainee dug in to preserve the win by a half-length in 1:34.86 for the mile on the wet-fast track.
“He ran big. It couldn’t have worked out any better,” said Stewart. “Everybody was worried about Runhappy and some other real tough horses in here but I said, ‘Hey listen, the horse is focused up.’”
Tom’s Ready, who captured the Woody Stephens S. (G2) early this year, is now 3-4-0 in 13 starts and has earned $640,267 for his owner GMB Racing.
Tom’s Ready is one of 11 stakes winners this year for More Than Ready, who has accounted for nearly 100 winners and progeny earnings of nearly $6 million to date in 2016.
Pedigree Notes from TDN
Tom’s Ready is out of Goodbye Stranger, a half-sister to MSW Lemonlime , who was purchased carrying the colt who would become Tom’s Ready for $40,000 at the 2013 Keeneland January sale. Goodbye Stranger is the dam of the once-raced 2-year-old filly It’s Been Nice, a yearling filly by Lemon Drop Kid and a Gemologist filly foaled this past Apr. 4. Tom’s Ready will retire to stud at B. Wayne Hughes’s Spendthrift Farm upon completion of his racing days, and, as a son of the successful dual-hemisphere sire More Than Ready, could also shuttle to Spendthrift’s Australian base.
