Always a Runner became Gun Runner’s 14th lifetime Grade 1 winner in fantastic fashion with her victory under the lights in the Kentucky Oaks (G1), with Meaning a very game second to complete the Gun Runner exacta in the $1.5 million race for 3-year-old fillies.
Now undefeated in three starts, Always a Runner is the first Oaks winner for her sire. The dark bay filly is owned by Douglas Scharbauer and Goncalo Torrealba’s Three Chimney’s Farm, who also bred Always a Runner from their Grade 2-placed mare Always Carina.
With the Oaks run just after sunset, this marked the first time in the 152-year history of the race that it had been run at night. Breaking from post 7 in the 13-horse field, Always a Runner settled nicely in mid-pack, tracking Meaning around the first turn and onto the backstretch. Explora set the pace, with fractions of :46.85 and 1:10.78.
Explora still had the lead after turning for home, with Meaning bearing down on her. Always a Runner was coming with a full head of steam outside that pair and collared Meaning with a sixteenth to go. At the wire, Always a Runner was a 1 ¼-length winner over Meaning in 1:48.82 for the nine furlongs on a fast track.
“Around the far turn she really started coming with a big run,” recounted winning rider Jose Ortiz. “She had to really work hard to get by those fillies on the lead. It’s such an incredible experience to win the Oaks. It was a great day of racing and to cap it off in the Oaks it was amazing.”
With the win, Always a Runner has earned $984,800. Her previous victories came in the Gazelle S. (G3) and her debut maiden win at Tampa Bay Downs in early February.
“I’m so proud of this horse,” said winning trainer Chad Brown “She’s overcome so much and to be able to be rewarded this way is unbelievable. She had a very serious case of pneumonia. When horses experience things like that, we just had to take things day by day. Her career was really up in the air. I never imagined she’d get to this day.”
When asked about Always a Runner’s sire, Chad Brown said. “As far as Gun Runner goes, obviously, one of the best sires in the world. In the first crop, I had a Preakness winner by the horse that Three Chimneys bred I bought as a yearling, Early Voting. I’ve had plenty of them, fortunately, in my care. And I’d say that class and the athleticism of these horses, they can come in all shapes and sizes, but I’ve never seen one that’s not an excellent mover.”
After getting the 1-2 finishers in the most prestigious races for fillies, Gun Runner could have an even bigger prize to add to his stellar line up with Further Ado among the favorites in Saturday’s Kentucky Derby (G1).
