Hammerhead, guided by jockey Daisuke Fukumoto, earned his first stakes victory with a strong showing in the $150,000 Bet 365 Valedictory (G3) for horses aged three and older at Woodbine this past Saturday. Making his debut at Woodbine, Hammerhead impressively surged ahead in a 1.5-mile race on the main track during a warm evening at the Toronto Oval.<\/p>\n
The 4-year-old gelding held a two-length advantage over Cool Kiss until the initial quarter-mile, recording a time of 25.69 seconds. Following closely were Lost Ark and F30-5, with Hammerhead positioned fifth out of a nine-horse field. The race progressed with Hammerhead staying fifth at the half-mile mark, clocking in at 51.83 seconds, maintaining a three-length distance ahead of Cool Kiss.<\/p>\n
After the three-quarter mile point, jockey Fukumoto urged Hammerhead forward, and the dark bay took the lead as other contenders tried to keep up. Trainer Kevin Attard confidently led the mile at 1:45.18, though many competitors had to exert extra effort to challenge the frontrunners.<\/p>\n
As the finish approached, Hammerhead continued to fend off challengers, with Robert Geller\u2019s call indicating a two-length lead. The horse crossed the finish line ahead by one length in a time of 2:34.40. Stablemate Jokester secured second place, while Passing Game and F3T-Five battled for third. Szabo, competing for the third time in this race under Attard, finished seventh.<\/p>\n
Fukumoto shared, “I wanted to stay behind so the horse could relax, and he did just that. He\u2019s a good horse who really enjoys the distance.” This marked Hammerhead\u2019s second career win\u2014out of 13 races, he now has 2 wins, 4 seconds, and 2 thirds. The horse is sired by Warfront out of Medaglia d\u2019Oro mare Figarella\u2019s Queen, who placed second in the Valedictory over 1 3\/8 miles on turf earlier in October.<\/p>\n
Attard commented on their success in longer races, noting past near-misses and the challenge of competing against top-tier horses, saying confidence plays a big role. Hammerhead debuted on August 17, 2024, finishing sixth in a 1 1\/16-mile turf race at Saratoga, and earned his first win that October in a one-mile turf race at Woodbine.<\/p>\n
Bred in Kentucky by Glen Hill Farms and owned by Gold Square LLC, Hammerhead was sold for $225,000 at the 2023 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Hopeton Francis serves as the horse\u2019s groom. Hammerhead\u2019s win paid $9.70.<\/p>\n
This victory is significant for horse racing fans as it highlights the rising talent of Hammerhead, a long-distance specialist, adding excitement to marathon races. The win also reflects the ongoing strength and potential of Daniel Attard\u2019s stable, promising competitive future events that captivate enthusiasts of the sport.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hammerhead, guided by jockey Daisuke Fukumoto, earned his first stakes victory with a strong showing in the $150,000 Bet 365 Valedictory (G3) for horses aged three and older at Woodbine this past Saturday. Making his debut at Woodbine, Hammerhead impressively surged ahead in a 1.5-mile race on the main track during a warm evening at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31335,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2443],"tags":[2955],"class_list":{"0":"post-31334","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fighting","8":"tag-horse-racing"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31334\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}