Gun Runner, the early horse race gambling online favorite to win the 2017 Breeder’s Cup Classic, ran, at Churchill Downs, on Sunday, a bullet five-furlong (the best kind of furlong not first-named Edward) move in :59.80 with regular jockey Florent Geroux, his last workout before shipping to California to get acclimated to the weather ahead of the grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar on November 4th. “He felt great,” Geroux said. “He worked with a nice horse and did everything perfectly. He typically doesn’t do anything fancy in his works and today was no different. He did everything on his own and I just wanted to keep him happy.”
The four-year-old colt started two lengths behind the equally Steve Asmussen-trained Gettysburg, who clocked 1:00.20, and posted splits of :24.40 and :35.60, drawing even with Gettysburg to finish up five furlongs over the fast main track faster than 47 other moves at the same distance that day. “He’s really turned into a faster and stronger horse this year,” the jockey added. “I think back last year and he acted like a teenager and this year he’s grown into a man. When I’m on his back I feel like I don’t have to help him as much because he does everything so well on his own.”
Gun Runner has cemented his status as horse race gambling online favorite with a 4-1-0 record, including victories in the Stephen Foster Handicap, Whitney Stakes and Woodward Stakes.
What’s more, even when Gun Runner doesn’t wink, he makes damned sure he is the first among the losers – his only loss this season was a runner-up finish to Arrogate in the Dubai World Cup (UAE-G1) in late March. “Forecasting in the horse business is like dreaming, so you end up taking it one race at a time,” Chris Baker, the COO (or the HHH, as the position is known in the wrestling industry) of Three Chimney Farm, which co-owns Gun Runner with Winchell Thoroughbreds, said. “We’ve always believed the potential was there but he’s really stepped up this year.”
The colt is accustomed to winning following prolonged breaks. He wrapped up his sophomore season with a front-running score in the Clark Handicap on November 25th and came back three months later to win the Razorback Handicap at Oaklawn Park on February 20th. Gun Runner then flew abroad to Meydan for the Dubai World Cap on March 25th and did not compete again until the start of his three-race winning streak in the Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs on June 17th. “There’s a fine line of being prepared and over prepared,” Baker explained. “Steve and his team have done a masterful job at keeping him in the right spot his entire career, especially this year.” additionally, Asmussen has “a fair amount of success flying out to California early. So, it’s pretty much standard. He’ll train up to the Breeders’ Cup,” Winchell Thoroughbreds’ Racing Manager David Fiske said. So it’s godspeed for race gambling online fave Gun Runner.