HOT SPRINGS -- City of Light did not have any problems in a strange setting or an unfamiliar distance Saturday afternoon.
Racing outside of California for the first time in his career, the 4-year-old colt outdueled post-time favorite Accelerate -- another West Coast shipper -- down the stretch to win the Grade II $750,000 Oaklawn Handicap in front of a crowd of 64,500 at Oaklawn Park.
City of Light stretched his winning streak to three in a row and has now won 4 of 7 career races, finishing no worse than second in any of them.
Starting from the far outside in the 11-horse field, City of Light stepped awkwardly coming out of the gate. He did nothing wrong the rest of the way while winning in 1:48.26.
"I was a little worried drawing the 11-hole, with the speed inside of us," City of Light trainer Mike McCarthy said. "I was worried about getting caught wide in the first turn. He kind of stumbled stepping out of there and let the other horses get the jump on him."
City of Light made a quick recovery and managed to sit patiently behind the leaders for the first three-quarters of a mile. He took the lead coming out of the final turn and held off his California rival, winning by a neck.
"Down the backside he was completely loaded and had a lot of horse the entire way," winning jockey Drayden Van Dyke said. "[I] just had to wait for the home stretch to let him loose. He did the rest himself. He's a talented horse and glad I could sit on him."
"Drayden was able to dictate his trip," McCarthy said. "He was loaded at the half-mile pole. At the time I was nervous because you worry if they are going to show up after the running starts, but when they got to the quarter pole and Drayden hadn't moved his hands, I had the utmost confidence in my horse."
It was the first time the colt had run more than 7 furlongs, but he had no problem with the added distance. His two previous races had been Grade I 7-furlong events at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif.
"I didn't think the distance would be a problem," McCarthy said. "I should say this, I didn't think the mile and an eighth would be a problem, the added distance would be a problem."
Starting just inside of City of Light, Accelerate was the post-time favorite but the 5-year-old son of Looking at Lucky never held the lead. Jockey Victor Espinoza said his horse ran well.
"It was set up like I wanted," Espinoza said. "He didn't want to load, but broke sharp and I was tracking the leaders. I just couldn't keep up with the winner. He tried to come back pretty good, but I just ran out of room."
Accelerate crossed the finish line 10 lengths ahead of third-place finisher Untrapped. Accelerate had a two-race winning streak snapped.
"He's been a little tricky in the gate," trainer John Sadler said of Accelerate. "I just think he was looking around at this strange environment and 65,000 fans. He broke OK. First time out of town, and I thought he ran a great race."
City of Light earned $450,000 for owners Mr. and Mrs. William K. Warren, giving him career earnings of $940,900.
City of Light paid $11.40, 5.80 and 4.20. Accelerate paid 3.60 and 2.80. Untrapped paid 3.80 to show.
Sports on 04/15/2018