Emerald Downs-based Wasserman bested two game foes, including Canada’s reigning champion older male True Metropolitan, on Sunday when he launched a powerful late rally to win the $272,500 Longacres Mile (G3), the track’s marquee event.

The six-year-old Cahill Road gelding, owned, bred, and trained by Howard Belvoir, wore down Tropic Storm late and caught True Metropolitan in the dying strides to win by a neck in 1:35 on a track rated as fast. Gritty 1.30-to-1 favorite Tropic Storm held on for third, another neck back in the 12-horse field.

The victory assures Wasserman a starting spot in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on October 25 at Santa Anita Park as the Longacres Mile is part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge “Win and You’re In” series.

Wasserman’s jockey, Jennifer Whitaker, became the first woman to win the Longacres Mile in the race’s 73-year history.

“I still can’t believe we won,” Whitaker said. “I will have to watch it about ten times on the replay to really believe it. It is an unbelievable feeling.”

True Metropolitan and Wasserman rated well off the early pace as 2006 Longacres Mile winner Flamethrowintexan, who was making his first start in more than a year, laid down blistering fractions through six furlongs. Tropic Storm pressured from second before challenging on the far turn and seizing the lead entering the stretch.

Waserman began his advance from the outside nearing the lane as Tropic Storm opened a 2½-length in early stretch. True Metropolitan launched a strong bid from fifth, took aim at Tropic Storm, and caught him inside the final sixteenth, but Wasserman was full of run on the outside and reeled in Tropic Storm late before collaring True Metropolitan in the shadow of the post to prevail.

Washington-bred Wasserman, out of stakes-placed winner Share the Knight, by Knights Choice, earned his first graded stakes victory and improved his overall record to eight wins in 38 career starts.

Wasserman entered the Longacres Mile off a close second-place finish in the Mt. Rainier Handicap on July 27 at the Auburn, Washington, track, after winning the Governor’s Handicap there for the second straight year on July 6.

The $137,500 winner’s share of purse boosted his lifetime bankroll to $415,971.
(Source: Thoroughbred Times)