Wicked Runner notches third graded stakes win

Wicked Runner got a stiff challenge in his victory in the Clasico George Washington (G3)on  Feb. 16, but the 3-year-old Wicked Strong colt repelled Tio Gangue by three-quarters of a length for his third graded stakes win in just six lifetime starts.

Based in Puerto Rico, Wicked Runner has won five of six overall for Sonata Stable.

The victory avenged Wicked Runner’s lone loss to Tio Gangue in a Grade 1 last December. Wicked Runner got the lead soon after the break in Monday’s 1 1/16-mile contest, until Tio Gangue put his head in front at the half-way point. The duo were nearly inseparable until the final sixteenth, when Wicked Runner edged clear for the win.

The winner was bred in Kentucky by George Bates Trustee. He is the first foal out of Herman’s Wildcat, who is a half-sister to multiple stakes winner Annie’s Candy.

Wicked Runner is his sire’s second stakes horse this year and was one of his five black type horses in 2019. Wicked Strong was a top-10 First-Crop sire last year by earnings, and his 26 individual winners were just one from the top spot on the same list. His 10 winners in 2020 leads all Second-Crop sires.