Igniter’s game performance in Saturday’s Jimmy Winkfield S. at Aqueduct earned the 3-year-old Volatile colt his first stakes victory by a length over Time to Roll.
Coming off a dominating allowance win on Feb. 11, Igniter and Easy Decision went for the lead, with Easy Decision coming away in front to lead by a head in the first quarter-mile. Igniter put his head in front midway on the turn, with Time to Roll mounting a three-wide challenge. Igniter kept finding more as the field turned for home and won by a length in 1:10.36 for the six furlongs on a fast track.
“I was pressing the two [Easy Decision], I knew that was the horse to follow,” winning jockey Manny Franco said. “I knew he’d be in front of me. I didn’t want to let him go too far ahead because I was thinking he was the other horse to beat.”
A homebred for Three Chimneys Farm, LLC, Igniter is trained by Richard Dutrow, Jr. The chestnut colt is 3-0-1 in five starts and has earned $179,700. Igniter is out of Ruffian (G1) winner Malibu Prayer, who is a half-sister to millionaire and four-time grade winner Valid.
