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Perfect Drift
Bay Gelding by Dynaformer-Nice Gal by Naskra
Owner: Dr. William Reed & Stonecrest
Farm
Trainer: Murray Johnson
Perfect
Drift 2nd in Stephen Foster (G1)
In a roughly run stretch duel, the 10-1 shot Perfect Drift,
with Mark Guidry aboard, blasted to the lead just past
the furlong pole while charging six wide through the lane.
Perfect Drift appeared comfortably in front except for
the rallying Seek Gold and Calvin Borel, who was clear
of the traffic and 12-wide when set down for the drive.
They closed in the middle of the track while quickly passing
rivals. The longest shot in the field, Seek Gold reached
the wire first under left-handed urging with a final lunge. "I thought I had won it," said Borel, who notched
his 31st stakes victory at Churchill Downs and his first
in the Stephen Foster. "I didn't want to go by him
(Perfect Drift) because I know how he is. He's a horse
that needs something to pick off. I waited as long as I
could. We just wanted to take our horse back and make one
run."
Guidry said he thought Perfect Drift resorted to an old
habit of easing up when he gained the lead in the stretch.
"I thought we had it won," said Guidry. "He
pulled up a little bit; he was getting a little bit bored."
"If he had my nose, we would have won," said
trainer Murray Johnson. "We can't win them all, but
we thought we had that one."
Perfect Drift, whose career record now stands at 11-11-5
in 38 races, earned $162,144 for his runner-up finish to
boost his career bankroll to $4,470,483.
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