Spice Runner, a full brother to Grade 1 winner Gunite, became the second graded stakes winner out of Simple Surprise on Saturday afternoon when the 2-year-old Gun Runner colt scored a hard-fought victory in the $300,000 Iroquois S. (G3) at Churchill Downs.
Gunite won the Hopeful S. (G1) as a 2-year-old, part of a stellar career that finished with nearly $2.5 million in earnings.
Like Gunite, Spice Runner is a Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC homebred. The bay colt had made three starts prior to Saturday’s one-mile race, most recently placing second to Comport in last month’s Juvenile S. at Ellis Park.
Comport was part of the Iroquois field and battled with No More Cents for the lead as the field made the long run down the backstretch. Comport took a clear lead going into the turn, with Spice Runner about two lengths behind around the bend and into the stretch. In the final furlong, Spice Runner began to cut into Comport’s lead and took the lead in the final strides to win by a head in 1:36.59.
“What a family this has been, and I’ve been the fortunate recipient of so many of them from the Winchell family,” trainer Steve Asmussen said. “It’s just great to see him in the winner’s circle, we all know how much there is to do from here.”
Spice Runner is now 2-1-0 in four starts and has earned $293,170.
“He’s definitely got room to grow,” Asmussen added. “The tactics he set today was a good improvement. He traveled very nicely. We might have a little mental issue because I think there’s more there. He has to be ridden hard to get there. It didn’t look like he was going to go by at first then got a little more focused. It definitely appears the talent is there.”
Spice Runner is Gun Runner’s 10th graded winner of the year and 16th overall stakes winner.
