Harrodsburg breaks through with gate-to-wire Bango upset at Churchill Downs
Harrodsburg went straight to the front and stayed there, edging Built by a half-length in the $275,000 Bango. It was his first graded stakes win.
Harrodsburg turned a year-plus of problem-solving into a graded-stakes payoff June 27 at Churchill Downs, taking the Grade 3 Bango gate to wire and holding off Built by a half-length. Sent from post 2 in a field of six, the 6-year-old covered 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:15.95 on a sloppy, sealed track and earned $168,105 from the $275,000 purse.
Tomlinson claimed Harrodsburg for $50,000 in May 2024 after the gelding had made only five starts, then spent the next stretch managing injuries and temperament. Harrodsburg had already shown the raw stuff, winning on debut at Aqueduct and finishing third in the 2023 Dwyer Stakes, but injuries and temperament kept him from turning that early promise into steady results.
Cornucopian, the even-money morning-line favorite, came out, and under Luis Saez Harrodsburg was sent straight to the lead and never gave it back, carving out :22.90 and :45.36 fractions before Built started to close.
Churchill Downs renamed the race in honor of Bango, the track’s all-time winningest horse, who won the event in 2021 and 2023 and set the mark with 12 victories at the oval. Harrodsburg, a Kentucky-bred gelding by Constitution out of the Exchange Rate mare Gracer, added his first graded stakes win to a record that now stands at 7 wins, 3 seconds and 3 thirds from 19 starts, with earnings of $670,387. Pin Up Betty completed a stakes double for the stallion on the same card.
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