California-Bred What a View Goes Gate to Wire to Win G1, $400,000 Frank E. Kilroe Mile

ARCADIA, Calif. (March 12, 2016)—In what appeared to be a case of no one wanting the early lead, California-bred What a View fell into a perfect front-running trip under Kent Desormeaux, as the 5-year-old gelding took Saturday’s Grade I, $400,000 Frank E. Kilroe Mile (turf) by 3 ¾ lengths thus providing former rider and current trainer Kenny Black with his first-ever Grade I victory.  Over a course listed as “good” due to heavy rains on Friday, What a View covered the mile distance in 1:35.57.

“Well, from the ‘View’ I had, everyone was going for the lead and this guy loves that,” said Desormeaux.  “I thought that if they all wanted to come at him, then he’d run them into the ground and I wanted to try and win the race that way.

“The time is incredible because the turf has a tremendous amount of give…For him to put that number up on the clock, he’s a real racehorse.”

A winner of the California Cup Turf Classic versus state-breds here on Jan. 30, What a View, was off at 6-1 in a field of six older horses and paid $14.00, $5.80 and $3.40.

“We’ve had some issues with his feet and I just wanted to keep him on the grass,” said Black.  “There were some really tough horses in here:  Bolo, Bal a Bali and Om, so I knew we were going to have to run big to win.”

Bred by Old English Rancho and Patsy and Sal Berumen, What a View is owned by Sal Berumen, Robert Riggio and the Elwood Johnston Trust and partners.  With his first graded stakes win, What a View picked up $240,000, increasing his earnings to $532,148.  He now has five wins from 11 overall starts.

Ridden by Mike Smith, favored Bolo ranged four-wide turning for home but never threatened the winner, finishing second, a nose in front of Bal a Bali.

Off at 2-1, Bolo paid $3.80 and $2.80.

“I think anybody that was going to lay close to (the winner) was just going to shoot themselves in the foot,” said Smith when asked for assessment of the Kilroe pace.  “To be honest, I think that helped us run second.  If I had tried to lay close, I wouldn’t have run second.”

Ridden by Flavien Prat, Bal a Bali just missed the place at 2-1 and paid $2.60 to show.

Fractions on the race were 22.65, 46.25, 1:10.17 and 1:22.64.

JOCKEY QUOTES
KENT DESORMEAUX, WHAT A VIEW, WINNER: “Well from the ‘View’ I had everyone was going for the lead and this guy loves that; the faster, the better. I thought that if they all wanted to come at him, then he’d run them into the ground and I wanted to try and win the race that way.

“He was loaded turning for home. He was enjoying himself and I think he enjoyed the soft ground. The time is incredible because the turf has a tremendous amount of give in the ground. For him to put that number up on the clock, he’s a real racehorse.

“I feel like I’m making the right decisions right now and I hope that continues.”

MIKE SMITH, BOLO, SECOND: “I think anybody that was going to lay close (to What a View) was just going to shoot themselves in the foot. To be honest, I think that helped us run second. If I had tried to lay close, I wouldn’t have run second.”

FLAVIEN PRAT, BAL A BALI, THIRD: “My horse ran good, the horse ran his race and did well. I feel that I got a good race, [Bal a Bali] had his shot and ran his race well. I don’t need to make an excuse for him, he did well.”

TRAINER QUOTES
KENNY BLACK, TRAINER, WHAT A VIEW, WINNER: “We’ve had some issues with his feet and I just wanted to keep him on the grass. There were some really tough horses in here: Bolo, Bal a Bali and Om, so we knew we were going to have to run big to win.”

JUDY JOHNSTON, PART OWNER/BREEDER, WHAT A VIEW: “It feels really good to win a race like this. There were some tough horses in there.”

REGARDING WINNING HER FIRST GRADE I WITHOUT HER LATE HUSBAND, E.W. (BUDDY) JOHNSTON IN ATTENDANCE: “He’s in the skybox, up there cheering for us.”

NOTES: The winning owners are Sal Berumen, Robert Riggio and the Elwood Johnston Trust, et al.

Source: Santa Anita Park