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Hogwarts Steals the Baltimore Crown
Original article written by Emily White posted 10 years 0 weeks agoThree weeks of good farm rest paid off for Ali Weasley's Hogwarts.
The regally bred colt came into this race freshened, nearly a month after his gutsy second-place finish in the Kentucky Blue Stakes (G1) behind The Art of Racing. Weasley opted out of the Louisville Derby and instead pointed to this race, an event Hogwarts' sire, Harry Potter, won several years ago.
The Art of Racing lay in wait for him here, as did the Louisville Derby winner, Are Lions Real, who went wire to wire to skip away from the 20-horse field by 2 1/2 lengths. It rained in Kentucky that day; in Baltimore, the weather was sunny and the track was dry. It would be a different story for the Derby champion.
It was Hogwarts who got the jump on his rival, leading at the first call by nearly a length. Are Lions Real, who had settled comfortably towards mid-pack, rushed up to challenge at the half, but by the turn he had dropped out to third. The Art of Racing kept good company, pushing Hogwarts through steady fractions.
They tried and tried to break him, but he would not give. Hogwarts, under steady urging by jockey Emmy Darling, prevailed in the Baltimore Crown by a length and a half. The Art of Racing was second; Derby winner Are Lions Real could do no better than third. It has now been seven years without a Triple Crown winner: the last horse to accomplish this feat was Maelstrom in Year 30.
This win was in the black colt's blood, as a son of two-time Horse of the Year Harry Potter and Hall of Fame mare Temple. He brought home a robust paycheck of $750,000 for Weasley, who had won only her second three year-old classic, 15 years after High Flyer captured the Kentucky Derby in Year 22.
Hogwarts has now won three out of five lifetime starts, including a juvenile stakes in California. He finished second - albeit by small margins - in his two preps for the Triple Crown earlier this year. His new earnings stand at $881,500.