West Will Power wins the Grade 1 Stephen Foster at Ellis Park. (Coady Photography)
History unfolded in the muggy warmth of Henderson, Kentucky on July 1 as Gary and Mary West's homebred West Will Power won the $1 million Stephen Foster Stakes in geared down fashion in the first Grade 1 race ever hosted at Ellis Park in the track's 101 years of operation.
Despite the race being moved to the Western Kentucky oval from its usual home at Churchill Downs, a strong field of eight were not deterred. Up for grabs, along with substantial prize money, was an automatic qualifying berth into the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 4 at Santa Anita Park through the Breeders' Cup Challenge "Win and You're In" series.
Speed Bias, under jockey Luis Saez, was first from the gate and headed quickly to the front while the Flavien Prat-piloted West Will Power was right on top of the pace in second, with Stilleto Boy right behind in third. Those three held their positions until the final turn when Prat made his move.
Urged down the middle of the fast dirt track, West Will Power opened up to break away from his competitors in the stretch while Rattle N Roll rallied in the final strides but was too late to challenge and settled for second.
West Will Power, a Brad Cox-trained son of Bernardini, finished the 1 1/8-mile race 2 1/2-lengths in front in a final time of 1:47.93. Fractions for the race were :23.74, :46.97, 1:10.83, and 1:35.20.
"He's a very good horse, he's accomplished a tremendous amount and he's gotten better as he's gotten older. I'm just very proud of what he stepped up and was able to do today," Cox said of the 6-year-old who finished third last out in Oaklawn Park's Grade 2 Alysheba Stakes.
Longshot Happy American finished third. Morning-line favorite Smile Happy had to be backed down the track to the gate, seemed rattled at the start, and could do no better than fifth.
"These are hard races to be a part of, let alone win. They're very tough, demanding, races. There's not a lot of opportunity, it's not as if they run Grade 1s every weekend, they're big, big, deals in the horse business," Cox said. This was a serious Grade 1, it was as strong as if this race was held at Churchill.
"No one ducked this race because it was at Ellis. This was a very very good group of horses with the likes of Proxy and just a deep group overall. He came out on the right end of it. I'm very proud of him. I think he's a Grade 1 horse and he proved it today."
West Will Power boosted his earnings to $1,745,390 and improved his record to 7-7-1 from 17 starts.
Cox says he thinks West Will Power will have what it takes to stand up to the 1 1/4-mile Classic distance in November.
"We're in the Breeders' Cup Classic, we'll work our way back from there," Cox said. "Ultimately it'll be up to Mr. West if we decide to go (to the Breeders' Cup Classic)."
