Ken and Sarah Ramsey’s Headache swept past
early leader Da Da Da Dum midway on the far turn and cruised to a 7
1/2-length victory over Northern Giant to win Saturday’s $54,648 feature
race, the 17th Annual AFA Classic at Churchill Downs.
Trained
by Mike Maker and ridden by Miguel Mena, Headache covered the 1
1/16 miles on a fast main track in 1:42.61. The victory was worth $33,600 and
increased Headache’s career bankroll to $265,898 with a record of 23-6-5-5.
A
5-year-old Kentucky-bred son of Tapit, Headache returned mutuels of $3.80,
$2.40 and $2.10. Northern Giant, ridden by Shaun Bridgmohan, paid
$5 and $2.80 with Stay Put finishing third a half-length back under Calvin
Borel and returning $2.60 to show.
Earlier
on the card, Tim Glyshaw and Deann Baer’s Ready’s Rocket
became the first horse in 20 years to win nine races at Churchill Downs.
Trained by Glyshaw and ridden by Borel, Ready’s Rocket took the second race by
a neck over Red Rally.
The
8-year-old gelding has all nine of his Churchill Downs victories on the main
track on which he has started 23 times. Six other horses had won eight races at
Churchill Downs since 1991, which is the first year detailed information was
gathered by Equibase.