Horse Racing Roundup : Banner Bob Defeats Image of Greatness

Banner Bob outdueled favored Image of Greatness down the stretch Sunday to win the $350,000 Jim Beam Stakes at Latonia Race Course in Florence, Ky.

The J.J. (Bud) Sarner-trained colt covered 1 1/16 miles in 1:42, equaling the track record for the distance, despite a damp surface. The winner, who went off as the second-favorite at 2-to-1 odds, paid $6.20, $3 and $2.80. Image of Greatness, trained by Wayne Lukas and owned by George Steinbrenner, went off as the 6-5 favorite and returned $2.80 and $2.60. Roo Art paid $3 for show.

Banner Bob, owned by Sharon and William Walsh of Chicago, took home the $227,500 winner’s share in the Kentucky Derby prep race for 3-year-olds. The dark bay colt, which brought $188,351 in career earnings into the race, laid off the pace most of the race before making his move on the final turn and charging down the stretch to a three-quarter-length victory.

“He was really not trying at all (at the top of the stretch),” jockey Keith Allen said. “I still had some horse left.”

Banner Bob a six-time winner in 11 career starts, has finished out of the money only once, when he finished fourth in the Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park in his last start. His last win was in the Hutcheson Stakes at Gulfstream on Feb. 6.

Violado, already nominated for the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes, took the lead at the top of the stretch and won by a nose over another Florida horse, Creme Fraiche, in the 60th running of the $200,000-guaranteed Grade II Louisiana Derby at New Orleans.

Ridden by Jacinto Vasquez, Violado’s first stakes win was worth a winner’s share of $112,000 for the Due Process Stables and increased his career earnings to $140,829. He got the victory by overtaking front-running Broadway Wonder, who faded out of the money, then outracing the field of 10 other 3-year-olds.

Violado covered the 1 1/8 mile in 1:50 1/5 on a fast track and returned $18.90, $9.60 and $6.30. Creme Fraiche, with Eddie Maple up, paid $7.20 and $6.30 after coming from third at the head of the stretch. Irish Fighter returned $11.70 to show.