By DRF.com
DEL MAR, Calif. (Aug. 9, 2024) — Not much went R Heisman’s way in the Everett Nevin Stakes at the Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton, Calif., last month. The colt raced wide and was checked at a pivotal point in the sprint stakes, eventually finishing second.
R Heisman’s journey in Friday’s $101,500 Graduation Stakes was a much smoother outing.
Ridden by leading rider Juan Hernandez, R Heisman stalked pacesetter and stablemate Case Hit to the final furlong before taking the lead in the final 30 yards and winning by three-quarters of a length. Hernandez had R Heisman on the rail on the turn and moved outside of Case Hit in the stretch before taking the lead.
Sent off favored, R Heisman ($4.60) ran 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:04.05. The colt was bred by Highclare, is owned by Gary Barber and trained by Peter Miller. Case Hit (7-1) is co-owned by Barber, Darryn Barber, and also Miller.
I’m a Bad Boy, a maiden trained by Luis Mendez, finished another 3 3/4 lengths back in third at 7-2. The Gypsy Cowboy finished fourth, followed by Last Call Zondlo, Bodacious, Timty, Nap, and Infamous Angel.
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Case Hit set an early pace of 21.26 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 44.82 for a half-mile, seemingly holding an insurmountable lead until R Heisman launched his late rally.
“I thought Case Hit might have had it but R Heisman never gave up,” said Miller. “They’re both really talented Cal-breds. I’m just very thankful to Mr. Barber for giving me the opportunity to train them. They all fired and ran very well. I’m proud of all three of the horses (He also saddled fifth-place finisher Last Call Zondlo). It’s too bad one of them has to lose. I told the jocks ‘dead heat’”.
The Graduation Stakes was restricted to 2-year-olds bred in California or by California-based sires. A Kentucky-bred, R Heisman is by Far From Over, who stood at Gray Farms in Northern California. Far From Over died of the effects of a seizure in the summer of 2021 at the age of 9.
R Heisman has won 2 of 4 starts and earned $115,200. The colt was second in his debut behind Bodacious on May 3 at Santa Anita, when trained by Mendez. R Heisman was bought privately by Barber and moved to Miller’s stable later that month.
R Heisman won his debut for Miller in a maiden race for California-breds on May 31 at Santa Anita.
“He broke really nice,” said Hernandez. “We are trying to settle him down; he is aggressive out of the gate. On paper he has a lot of speed, so I didn’t want to go head to head with the pace setters. But he relaxed pretty well, I let the leaders go and I sat right behind them, saving ground along the rail. I waited for the horse ahead of me to advance a little bit, and then I swung around the outside and my horse did the rest.”