CHC and WinStar Farm’s Gunmetal (Gun Runner) returned to winning ways Saturday in a second-level allowance sprinting at Churchill Downs.
Hammered down to 3-2 favoritism with Luan Machado aboard, the chestnut bumped into a rival at the break and settled to stalk the leading duo from the outside. Five wide entering the lane, he edged clear determinedly to win by a neck.
“Gunmetal is a horse we have always thought well of,” said CHC’s Christie DeBernardis. “He was second in a graded stake at Saratoga last year and we hope to return him to that level this summer. He was coming off a long layoff and needed the race last time, so this win should move him forward.”
A $410,000 KEESEP acquisition, Gunmetal was a debut winner at the Fair Grounds last year and followed suit with a troubled-trip third in the Swale S. at Gulfstream. Capturing a Keeneland allowance in April, he ran poorly behind stablemate Patch Adams in the GI H. Wood Stephens last June, but bounced back with a good second in the GII Amsterdam S. at the Spa in July. Off the board in the Robert Hilton Memorial S. last August, Gunmetal was sent to the sidelines and returned May 3 with a third in an allowance at Aqueduct.