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Fast and Accurate captures JACK Cincinnati Casino Spiral Stakes, sends Hansen back to Kentucky Derby


By Mark Hansel
NKyTribune managing editor

Bettors sent Fast and Accurate off at 24-1 in the $500,000 JACK Cincinnati Casino Spiral Stakes (G3) at Turfway Park Saturday and the colt obliged with a confident, three-quarter length win, giving owner Kendall Hansen another shot at the Run for the Roses.

The connections of Fast and Accurate, including owner, Dr. Kendall Hansen (black jacket), jockey Tyler Gaffalione and trainer Mike Maker, blue jacket, celebrate in the winners circle after the colt captured the Grade 3, JACK CAsino Cincinnati Spiral Stakes at Turfway Park Saturday. The win propels Fast and Accurate into the Kentucky Derby picture and Hansen said he will pay the $200,000 late nomination fee to supplement the colt (photos by Mark Hansel)/

A designated points race for the Kentucky Derby (G1), the 1 1/8-mile Spiral offers 50 points to the winner. Fast and Accurate is not nominated to the Triple Crown, but Hansen indicated his intention to pay the $200,000 supplement for late nomination.

“(Expletive), yeah” he said when asked if he planned to take Fast and Accurate to the Derby. “I’ve only got until today or tomorrow to get the Derby nomination fee in.”

Hansen, a Northern Kentucky physician, went to the 2012 Kentucky Derby with Hansen the horse, who finished ninth.

He said he never dreamed when he started following horses 30 years ago that this was possible.

“This was other people, I never thought I could be somebody that had a horse like this and like his dad, Hansen,” Dr. Hansen said. “His dad was just a blessing that just keeps giving. I’m so excited.”

Mike Maker, who trains Fast and Accurate, also trained Hansen. “We had so many (Hansen foals) that we were just trying to fill in the blanks,” Maker said, explaining the winner’s entry in a maiden claiming race in December, which he won.  “We were trying to get some more winners for Hansen.  We had a lot of confidence (coming in to the Spiral).”

Hansen and Maker make a successful team, but owner and trainer could not be more different. Maker rarely shows emotion and is very soft-spoken, while Hansen wears his heart on his sleeve and is never at a loss for words.

Kendall Hansen was also represented in the Spiral Stakes by En Hanse, owned in partnership with Olympic skier Bode Miller. Also by Hansen, En Hanse shot out of post 12 to set a hot pace for the distance, clocking the quarters in :23.22, :46.36 and 1:10.22 before giving way to the winner approaching the stretch. Fast and Accurate’s final time was 1:50.96.

Kendall Hansen, owner of Fast and Accurate raises his hands to the heavens in the Winner’s Circle after Fast and Accurate wins the JACK Casino Cincinnati Stakes at Turfway Park Saturday. Trainer Mike Maker and Hansen’s wife, Anastasia, are at right (click to enlarge).

Hansen said Maker preferred Fast and Accurate over En Hanse at the distance.

“The other one is just blistering fast,” Hansen said. “I talked to (co-owner) Bode Miller about it and we actually wanted him to go maybe :45 and change and see how long he could hold on, but I was just so excited to see my horse catching up to my other horse and both of them have a chance heading down the stretch. I couldn’t freaking believe it.”

“The race set up beautifully,” said winning rider Tyler Gaffalione. “My horse broke well. I looked to the outside and I saw Mike’s other horse (En Hanse) going to the lead and he (Maker) had told me if the other one broke better to just sit behind him. We had a beautiful trip going into the far turn. I put him on the outside and he just hit another gear. Down the lane he just kept lengthening in stride.”

The Eclipse champion 2-year-old for 2011, Hansen stood at stud in the United States for only one season before being sent to South Korea. Hansen the man has worked diligently to gain winners for Hansen the sire from his single U.S. crop.

Dr. Hansen said the progeny of Hansen, the horse, all have trouble breaking from the gate.

“The best of them all could be Lady Hansen – Maker said the best two-year-old filly he’s ever had –  that kept waiting two-or-three seconds to leave the gate, but she’s back in training,” Hansen said. “But they’re all a bit, they want to do things their way.

A trait Hansen admits they share as much with their owner as their sire. After Fast and Accurate won the JACK Cincinnati Casino Spiral Stakes, Hansen knelt in the winner’s circle and kissed the ground, then raised his arms in the air in exultation.

“I never thought I’d get to the Kentucky Derby again,” Hansen, who teared up several times after the race. “It actually means more this time, you know, because I never thought we would do it again.”

Hansen risked losing Fast and Accurate when he entered the colt in a claiming race in December.

“Sometimes you’ve to pump their heart up and let them learn how to win,” Hansen said. “But, yeah, can you imagine? I would have been the sickest person in the world (if he had gotten claimed).

Blueridge Traveler finished second after riding the rail and closing hard.

“He’s still a bit green,” said Blueridge Traveler’s jockey, Channing Hill. “He tried all the way to the wire. I really thought I was going to run fourth, then I thought third, then all of a sudden I thought we might win it. He kept digging, kept grinding. He’s got a long, bright future.”

Blueridge Traveler earned 20 points towards the Kentucky Derby. Half a length farther back in third, Convict Pike earned 10 points. Kitten’s Cat, the 5-2 favorite, finished fourth to earn five points.

Finishing fifth and following were Bronson, Giant Payday, Soglio, Parlor, En Hanse, King and His Court and Colonel Samsen. Shiraz scratched.

Fast and Accurate paid $51 for the win, $22 to place and $13 to show.

Out of the Green Dancer mare It’s Heidi’s Dance, Fast and Accurate was bred in Pennsylvania by John R. Penn.  He now has three wins and one second in six starts and purse earnings of $340,362.

Contact Mark Hansel at mark.hansel@nkytrib.com

Turfway Park contributed to this story


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