Blast Them Away cops Eros Trophy
BLAST Them Away outran fellow American-bred colt El Poderoso to win the 15th running of the $1,188,000 Eros Trophy, his first Grade One race at Caymanas Park yesterday.
Trained by Wayne DaCosta for owner Robert K Thomas, Blast Them Away, in a masterful performance toting top weight of 57.0kg under champion jockey Dane Nelson, ran 1,400 metres in a time of 1:24.1 minutes to win the event by 1 1/4 lengths.
Leaving the gates as though he was on fire, Nelson soon got the colt under control, as the light-weighted El Poderoso, ridden by former champion jockey Dick Cardenas, took up the running with Blast Them Away taking a back seat. After Nelson had seen enough he sent Blast Them Away, the 3-5 favourite, in serious chase leaving the 800 metres pole.
With the 7-2 chance El Poderoso appearing resolute, Nelson asked his mount to really run at him and he responded with a tremendous turn of foot to overhaul the leader inside the final 100 metres before taking the lead, and even then El Poderoso was still full of running, but Blast Them Away was on his way to victory and could not be caught.
Typewriter came charging for third money. His stablemate The Guv completed the frame of four in the six-horse field.
Blast Them Away, a bay colt by Proud Accolade out of Evita Villa (Forrest Wild Cat) bred by Marvin Little, Jr in the USA, was winning for the 11th time from 15 career starts. He earned $648,650 as the winner’s share for a bankroll of $5,999,200 lifetime.
Meanwhile, punters at the track vented their anger after the running of the third race when 1-5 favourite Campesino was disqualified. The angry fans threw missiles at the North Lounge glass area, but there was no visible damage.