It is fitting that Steve Asmussen, who trained 2017 Horse of the Year and eventual Hall of Famer Gun Runner , has begun to pile up the victories in the race named in the horse's honor.
He won the inaugural running of the Gun Runner Stakes at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots in 2021 with Epicenter , added a second win from Track Phantom in 2023, and notched a third Dec. 20 when Chip Honcho outran favored Liberty National and longtime leader Crown the Buckeye in the 1 1/16-mile race for 2-year-olds.
Chip Honcho, expected by many to establish the pace, instead sat second for much of the race as Crown the Buckeye, a dual stakes winner in Ohio-bred company, outsprinted him to the lead, setting quick fractions of :23.62, :46.66, and 1:10.98. Crown the Buckeye initially turned aside a pace-pressing Chip Honcho, and opened up a length advantage in midstretch.
But Crown the Buckeye was gassed, running his final sixteenth in :07.61, according to Equibase GPS timing data.
"At the sixteenth pole, I'm like, where's the wire? I needed it," said Crown the Buckeye's jockey Jareth Loveberry, who praised Crown the Buckeye's effort.
Chip Honcho had enough left to pass the leader, hitting the wire with 1 1/16 miles on a fast track in 1:44.76, the second slowest of five runnings of the Gun Runner. Chip Honcho paid $9.80 to win.
Liberty National, who rallied up the inside from fifth in the field of six, caught Crown the Buckeye by a head for the place, three-quarters of a length behind the winner. He did not accelerate as quickly as in a maiden win last month at Churchill Downs, with jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. theorizing after the race that the colt might not have been as comfortable on the inside. Liberty National galloped out ahead of the rest of the field.
Crown the Buckeye held on to show, ahead of Quality Mischief in fourth and Very Connected in fifth.
The first five finishers earned Kentucky Derby (G1) qualifying points on a 10-5-3-2-1 basis.
The winner, a 2-year-old son of Connect owned by Leland Ackerley Racing, won for the second time in three starts. He had been a front-running winner over a mile at Churchill Downs in maiden special weight company Nov. 20 and a runner-up finisher on debut at Keeneland when racing 7 furlongs Oct. 16.
He added blinkers for the Gun Runner after jumping shadows and puddles over a wet track in his maiden win, said John Cilia, racing manager for Ackerley.
Bred in Kentucky by Venneri Racing and Tony Fanticola out of the Magician mare Miss My Rose, Chip Honcho was a $210,000 purchase by Ackerley from the Penn Sales consignment to Fasig-Tipton's The July Sale in Kentucky in 2024.
Connect will stand for $10,000 next year at Lane's End in Kentucky.
Video: Gun Runner S. (BT)
Supporting Stakes Action
In a trio of earlier $100,000 stakes on the undercard, Not This Boy defeated Sir Greylind and Stowaway in the Tenacious Stakes, Idratherbeblessed upset the Buddy Diliberto Memorial Stakes, and Hit Parade survived a stewards' inquiry to win the Untapable Stakes.
The Untapable offered qualifying points on a 10-5-3-2-1 scale to its top five finishers toward the May 1 Kentucky Oaks (G1) at Churchill Downs for 3-year-old fillies.
Hit Parade ($6.60), a daughter of Street Sense trained by Brad Cox for owners/breeders Gary and Mary West, outkicked an inside-rallying Luv Your Neighbor by a head. Pashmina, who steadied between the top two finishers in the stretch, showed.
