Sibcy Cline

Trainer Kathy Lowry, owner/breeder Ron McKay and Jockey Gabriel Lagunes were all on the same page when it came to a game plan to win the $50,000 Horizon Stakes on Saturday. The Bull’s-eye was on the back of speedster Bakers Haulover, a Doug Cowans trainee who drew the rail and had Perry Ouzts in the saddle. This season, when they team up they win 62% of the time and the race was moved off the turf to the main track. While Bakers Haulover had never gone around two turns, his ability to make the lead and a solid 5 furlong work leading up to the 1 1/16 Horizon for Accredited Ohio-breds made him the public’s choice at 4 to 5 odds. The connections of Uncle Virgil did not want this one to slip away and their game plan was a simple one according to trainer Lowry and owner McKay. “We told Gabe to stay with him all the way – if he got an easy lead, Ouzts could steal it.” The edge they had was the fact that Uncle Virgil had won on the front at a mile at River Downs and Lowry said he had been training great up to the race. As the gates opened Ouzts sent Bakers Haulover to the front, but he was shadowed by Uncle Virgil all the way down the backstretch. “The plan worked,” said Lagunes after the race. “When I asked him to go by on the final turn he just took off and I just gave him a hand ride to the wire as he pulled away.”

The final margin of victory was 10 3/4 lengths cruising to a final time of 1:48.27 on a track upgraded to fast after a day that started listed as a damp “Good.” Ron McKay’s homebred Uncle Virgil went off the slight second choice and returned $6.00, $3.00 and $2.10.  Mercer’s Mark caught the favorite for the second spot to return $3.20 and $2.10, while favored Bakers Haulover had a show payoff of $2.10.