Viking powers to Smile Sprint win, gives David Fawkes stakes double
Viking crushed the Smile Sprint by 4 1/2 lengths at Gulfstream Park, capping David Fawkes' July 4 stakes double on the holiday card.
Viking turned Gulfstream Park’s Smile Sprint into a clear-cut finish, drawing off by 4 1/2 lengths on the July 4 holiday card and giving trainer David Fawkes the capstone to a stakes double. The 5-year-old gelding covered 6 furlongs on a fast dirt track in 1:09.71, returned $16.80 to win and gave Edwin Gonzalez a decisive score in race 10 of the 11-race program.
The Smile Sprint carried added stakes weight beyond the final margin. Equibase listed it as a $100,000 stakes for 3-year-olds and up, while BloodHorse put the race value at $82,500. Viking carried 122 pounds for owner Alex and JoAnn Lieblong, with Fred W. Hertrich III, John D. Fielding and Robert L. Tribbett listed as breeders. The son of City of Light out of Justwalkonby handled the assignment with authority, separating from the rest of the field and leaving Classic of Course and Beach Colt among the beaten runners behind him.
The win mattered as much for Fawkes as it did for Viking. Daily Racing Form called it part of a stakes double for the barn, the kind of two-hit afternoon that marks a stable in form and keeps horseplayers attentive the next time one of its runners shows up in a spot with realistic upside. Viking was making his first start for Fawkes after a three-month layoff from an off-the-board Oaklawn Park allowance finish, and Gulfstream had made him a 6-1 morning-line choice before he turned that setup into a much stronger result.
The performance also sharpened Viking’s profile for the next round of sprint opportunities, especially at Gulfstream or in open company where a horse with his speed can fit cleanly into the right pace picture. The Smile Sprint record at Gulfstream is 1:07.80, so Viking was not chasing history, but the time and the margin still signaled a sharp, efficient six furlongs on a fast track. For a holiday stakes card that also featured the Soldier’s Dancer Handicap, Fawkes left Hallandale Beach with a victory that pointed forward, not backward, and Viking left with the kind of finish that can open the door to another well-placed sprint run.
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