AS EXPECTED, GRAY HORSE WINS

Feb 3rd, 10
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – There was a sure thing Wednesday afternoon at Aqueduct Racetrack, and everyone knew it.

A gray (or roan) horse was going to win the first race.

No question about it.

Of course, even a novice handicapper could have figured that out, considering the conditions of the race. Named for a horse called Arromanches, it required entrants to be gray or roan, and indeed, the seven starters who ranged in age from 4 to 9, were all various shades of gray.

“It was,” said track announcer John Imbriale, “interesting.”

While a gray winner was assured, which gray winner was still to be decided.

Najarans Star (a dark gray mare) was the favorite, but jockey C.C. Lopez, aboard longshot Good Karma (a light gray gelding), thought he might have just that working in his favor.

That’s because, back in the day, Lopez was the regular rider of Arromanches, a hard-knocking (and light gray) claimer who once won eight straight races in 2001.

While the horseplayers who sent Lopez and Flying Zee Stables’ Good Karma off at 13.50-1 might have been surprised when he crossed the wire a half-length in front of Najarans Star, Lopez was simply elated.

“Arromanches!” he said triumphantly as Good Karma was led to the winner’s circle.  “My big horse!”

Arromanches was a consistent horse, winning 31 of 78 lifetime starts and earning $807,924, much of it at Aqueduct.  Appropriately, it was at Aqueduct in 1997 when Lopez first climbed aboard to score the first of 17 wins the pair would share; Arromanches was retired after finishing second in a $16,000 claiming contest at the Big A on December 7, 2002, with Lopez in the irons.

“He was a really cool horse,” Lopez said.  “I rode him for nearly everybody that had him – and I can’t tell you how many people had him – and he made money for all of them.  I was very fortunate – he was a great horse to ride and I really loved him.”

Lopez was so fond of the horse, in fact, that he had a pair of riding pants embroidered with Arromanches’ name at the back of the waist, which he proudly displayed after Wednesday’s win. 

“I had these other pants on and when I saw this race was named for him, I ran back inside and put my Arromanches pants back on,” Lopez said.  “I can’t tell you how proud I am to win this race for him.”  NYRA Communications Department

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