2012 Ontario Derby Video: Stealcase Takes The Long Route To Victory

It was a fairly chalky affair in the 2012 Ontario Derby, but the connections of winner Stealcase don’t care one bit as their colt won the first graded stakes race of his career at Woodbine.

The Ontario Derby, a nine furlong race over the Woodbine Polytrack, saw a fairly soft pace through the opening half mile. Gung Ho set factions of 24.47, 49.82 and 1:13.94, almost a crawl-like pace scenario, but faded at the top of the stretch despite the easy splits. Any Given Royal grabbed the lead momentarily but was no match for Stealcase in the final strides, finishing a length and a quarter behind the winner.

According the Trakus electronic timing data from the race, Stealcase and Any Given Royal covered the most ground of any horses in the race. Stealcase traveled 6,061 feet. Any Given Royal ran 6,064 feet. All the other horses in the field ran a minimum of apporoximately 30 fewer than the top two finishers, and the third and fourth place runners (River Rush and Gung Ho) traveled over 60 feet less. In short, Stealcase and Any Given Royal were clearly the best of the field.