Ron Winchell, Thomas Reiman, William Dickson and Deborah Easter’s Finite was sent off as the 4-5 favorite in Saturday’s Grade 2 Golden Rod Stakes, but the 2-year-old filly had to dig deep for a half-length victory over 13-1 Motu. Finite stalked the early pace, went three wide on the turn and battled all the way down the stretch for her hard-fought victory, the third in five starts for the daughter of Munnings. Ridden by Ricardo Santana, Jr. for trainer Steve Asmussen, Finite ran 1 1/16 miles over Churchill Downs’ sloppy main track in 1:45.99.
The Golden Rod victory earned Finite 10 points on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks.
“It was pretty cool that before the Golden Rod the replay of Untapable’s Kentucky Oaks win was playing on the Big Board,” Asmussen said. “Hopefully, that is a sign of things to come.”
Finite broke sharply from the gate, but it was Bean from the center of the pack who rushed up to grab the early lead. Bean grabbed a one-length advantage over Lady Glamour into the clubhouse turn, with Finite settling back along the rail in third.
After fractions of :23.93 and :48.53, Lady Glamour moved up to challenge Bean on the front end. Santana angled Finite three-wide to make it a three-way battle for the lead, but just had Lady Glamour to put away at the head of the lane.
From the rear of the field, Motu came with a big run on the outside to provide a second challenge for Finite. That pair battled for the final three-sixteenths of the Golden Rod, with Finite doggedly hanging on by a half-length on the wire. Motu had to settle for second, while Lady Glamour hung on to finish third.
“She’s a super nice filly,” Santana said. “The credit goes to Steve and his team because they have been working hard with this filly to get her to relax in the morning. She settled very nicely behind horses and was not going to let anyone get by her today.”
Bred in Kentucky by Winchell Thoroughbreds, Finite is out of the multiple stakes-winning Tapit mare Remit. The filly has now won on turf, over one turn on the dirt, and over two turns on the dirt, improving her overall record to three wins from five starts for earnings of over $350,000.
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