Replete and Twelfth Labour capped off the Churchill Downs meet with open-length victories on June 27 and 28 for trainer Dallas Stewart and jockey Brian Hernandez Jr.
Replete turned his seventh career start into a procession on June 27 when he kicked away to a 4 3/4-length maiden victory at Churchill Downs.
The handsome 3-year-old gelding had undergone a myectomy after displacing his soft palate when he faded late in a fifth-place finish there on May 24.
This time, Replete tracked in third place and switched outside with a big move in the far turn and showed heels to 11 rivals in the stretch of the 6-furlong event.
“We had tried all sorts of distances with him and then we did some minor throat surgery and I think that helped him a lot,” Stewart said. “He is a horse that should get better with age: he is very healthy, we know he can run and I think he has a shot to turn the tables and be a nice horse.“
Twelfth Labour has followed that kind of arc since April when he began to reward the patience of his connections, finishing a bombs-away second at Keeneland and following with two convincing wins at Churchill.
The 3-year-old colt tried route races and the grass before settling into a nice groove going 7 furlongs and a mile around a single turn on the dirt. In blossoming this season, he has banked more than $122,000.
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