Renegade wins Sam F. Davis S. to give Into Mischief another Derby hopeful

Into Mischief got his first of two Derby prep winners on Saturday when Renegade swept to victory in the $200,000 Sam F. Davis S. at Tampa Bay Downs, earning the 3-year-old colt his first stakes win as well as 20 points in the Road to the Kentucky Derby challenge series.

Later in the day at Santa Anita Park, Into Mischief’s Plutarch also picked up 20 points for winning the Robert B. Lewis S. (G3).

Renegade, a Robert and Lawana Low homebred who is co-owned by Mike Repole and trained by Todd Pletcher, had finished second to the highly-regarded Paladin in the Remsen S. (G2) some two months ago in his most recent start.

In Saturday’s 1 1/16-mile race, Renegade settled near the back of the pack early on, waiting until after the midway point of the race to start to gain ground. Around the final turn with a four-wide move, Renegade went from seventh to contending for the lead at the top of the stretch. After a brief tussle with Wayne’s Law, Renegade asserted himself and drew off nicely to win by 3 ¾-lengths.

“I was very pleased with his race,” Pletcher said. “I thought it was impressive considering he got shuffled back a little bit and was then pretty far back on a track that seemed like it was playing kindly to horses up close. He had to put in a pretty wide move, but I thought he really leveled off the last part (of the race) and finished up strongly. I thought it was a perfect start to his 3-year-old campaign.” 

Renegade, who was disqualified from an October 17 maiden win, is now 1-2-1 in four starts and has earned $199,000.