Once On Whiskey Dives Home in Los Al Derby

[Wandering Eyes]

Once On Whiskey (c, 3, Bodemeister–Crespano, by Mineshaft) was let go at odds of 7-1 trying a route of ground for the first time in Saturday’s GIII Los Alamitos Derby in Orange County, but belied his inexperience at two turns to peg back favored Draft Pick (Candy Ride {Arg}) in the shadow of the wire. Exiting an apparently excuse-free third in a seven-furlong Churchill allowance test May 5, the $150,000 Keeneland September purchase raced at the back of the Los Al Derby field alongside Blended Citizen (Proud Citizen) as Ax Man (Misremembered) set the pace from Draft Pick in the middle and a three-wide King Cause (Creative Cause). Ax Man was never given a breather and Draft Pick put him to the sword with three-eighths of a mile to travel, having won that battle. Having firmly put away that Baffert runner, Once On Whiskey emerged as the fresh challenge entering the final furlong. Draft Pick kept plugging away as he was looking for the line, but Flavien Prat shoved Once On Whiskey home narrowly in front. The third graded winner and eighth black-type winner for his sire, Once On Whiskey is a maternal grandson of SW Code Of Ethics (Honour and Glory) and hails from the family of GSW Careless Heiress and GSW One and Twenty (Honour and Glory). The winner’s dam has a yearling filly by The Factor and a filly foal by Not This Time. The mare was bred to Runhappy. Lifetime Record: 4-2-1-1. O-Pegram, Watson & Weitman; B-Gabriel Duignan & Crosshaven Bloodstock (KY); T-Bob Baffert.

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