Husbands wins in sensational style

TORONTO – Woodbine champion jockey Patrick Husbands produced a late surge to steer odds-on favourite Sensational Slam to capture the CAN$150 000 Clarendon Stakes at the celebrated Canadian racetrack last Saturday evening.The 36-year-old brought the two-year-old chestnut colt with a daring run down the centre of the stretch to snatch victory by a neck in the 5-1/2 furlong race eight.Trained by Todd Pletcher and owned by star television chef Bobby Flay, Sensational Slam covered the trip in a time of one minute, 04.78 seconds for his career debut win, finishing ahead of Trinidadian Emile Ramsammy aboard Naval Attack.“My agent came to me this morning and said that Todd said the horse is very lazy but he can run,” Husbands said afterward.“Today, he really showed me he’s a lazy horse. He left a step slow and I had to ride him. [I] never got him on the bridle, I had to call on him.“He was gaining, but gaining slowly but he’s a pretty nice baby. He’s a class horse, he has the breeding. He won the race on the wrong lead, right from the top to the bottom.” (CMC)