Lochness Turned Tables on Moderno to Capture the Handicap Domingo E. Pascual
A month after losing by 3/4 of a length to the same rival, the son of Le Ken got his revenge over 1400 meters at Palermo, guided by Kevin Banegas; Escape Room and Tiffany Mo failed to deliver
The same protagonists, the same track, and the same distance, but an outcome precisely inverted. The Handicap Domingo Elías Pascual (1400 m, dirt), one of two main feature events on Monday at Palermo honoring a legendary trainer, found in Lochness a winner with a spirit of revenge. The son of Le Ken bested Moderno (Seahenge) by 1 1/2 lengths, reversing the finishing order the two had established just a month ago.
On September 17, in the Premio Golden Filly, Moderno had prevailed by 3/4 of a length over Lochness, also over the 1400 meters on the Buenos Aires dirt. On that occasion they competed under equal weights and the margin was minimal, yet sufficient for the Stud Doña Pancha representative to secure victory. This time, the handicap conditions shifted the terms: Moderno carried 55 kilos while Lochness was assigned 54. That single kilo advantage helped flip the script.
To be sure, it was neither a straightforward revenge nor an early-settled conquest. For much of the home straight, the two renewed their previous duel, engaging in a intense battle that at times appeared up for grabs. Moderno defended gamely, but Lochness gradually wore him down on the outside, only managing to tip the scales definitively inside the final 150 meters. From there, he edged away to hit the wire with a 1 1/2-length advantage in a final time of 1m23s35/100.
Kevin Banegas, who handled riding duties aboard the winner, explained afterward that the horse tended to hang inward, a quirk that demanded constant vigilance and correction in mid-stretch. It was far from a comfortable ride, yet his grit and determination sustained the late surge to the finish line. The victory carried double the satisfaction: avenging the previous close defeat while securing his first career victory at the handicap level.
Three lengths back in third came Vampiro Zen (Zensational, 57 1/2), rounding out a superfecta that left several heavily fancied contenders out of the frame. The major disappointment was crowd favorite Escape Room (Il Campione, 59), returning to the venue where he had finished second to Drive Joy (Fortify) in the Gran Premio de las Américas - OSAF(G1). This time he failed to make any impact in the stretch run, finishing fifth, nine lengths behind the winner.
Tiffany Mo (El Moisés) also failed to deliver under top weight of 60 1/2 kilos, finishing seventh, second-to-last, nearly thirteen lengths adrift. It was a dull performance, though shouldering the top weight proved a formidable obstacle.
Trained by Juan Javier Etchechoury for Stud Ro y Her and bred by Haras El Gusy, Lochness is a son of champion Le Ken and Aquellos Ojos Verdes (Curlinello). With this success, he brought his record to four wins from 17 starts while pushing his career earnings past 46 million pesos. But the figure that best tells the story of his afternoon is a different one: turning a second-place loss behind Moderno into a victory, executing the perfect turnaround.
Comments