Gun Runner got his 56th lifetime stakes winner Saturday at Aqueduct when Paradise rolled to a 3 ¾-length win in the $200,000 Busher S.
By virtue of the victory, Paradise picked up 37.5 points on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks. Paradise is currently sixth on the list of Oaks contenders. The top 14 fillies are guaranteed entry into the May 1st Oaks.
Paradise, who broke her maiden Jan. 4 at Gulfstream Park in front-running fashion, sat just off the early pace in the one-mile Busher, with Current Yield and Interstatelovesong battling for the lead for the first five furlongs. Paradise was three-wide on the turn and engaged the leaders outside the quarter pole. Current Yield began to fade, leaving Paradise and Interstatelovesong to contest the lead. With a furlong to go, Paradise asserted herself and drew away, winning convincingly in 1:38.53 on a “good” main track.
“She shipped up this week and had been training well and obviously ran well,” said trainer Brad Cox. “I thought it was encouraging that she was able to sit as close to that pace as she did and finish up the way she did.”
Cox added that a two-turn race could be next on the agenda for Paradise.
A winner of two of three starts, with one second, Paradise is owned by NK Racing and LNJ Foxwoods and has earned $174,800. The chestnut filly was bred in Kentucky by Ciaglia Racing, LLC, HNDEH & Domenic Savides and sold for $700,000 at the 2024 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling sale.
Gun Runner has several prominent 3-year-olds on the Kentucky Oaks trail, with Meaning, Search Party and Life of Joy all in the top 16 on the Oaks list. On the Road to the Kentucky Derby (G1), Gun Runner’s Paladin, recent winner of the Risen Star S. (G2), tops the list with 60 points.
