Bowie’s Hero powerful move down the stretch of the Del Mar turf course carried the 3-year-old Artie Schiller colt to victory in the $120,000 Oceanside S. on opening day of the summer meet.
Bowie’s Hero won the $100,000 Del Mar Turf Juvenile last September over the same course and also annexed the Singletary S. at Santa Anita on May 6. His overall record now stands at 4-0-0 in seven starts, with earnings of $201,325 for Agave Racing and Herbert Bloodstock.
Never one to rush from the gate, Bowie’s Hero was well off the pace in ninth for the first six furlongs, which went in 1:11.46. Jockey Tiago Pereira moved up between horses on the final turn, then swung five wide around foes in the stretch to win in hand by 1 ½-lengths.
“I was there with a lot of horse all the way around,” the winning jockey said. “I had a big hold; he was strong. Tyler’s horse [runner-up Pioneer Lad] made that run, but my horse went to him, then went right on by. He was very strong. And he’ll run on.”
Artie Schiller, the sire of 35 stakes winners and more than 65 black type horses lifetime, shuttles from WinStar Farm to stand the Southern Hemisphere breeding season at Emirates Park in Australia, where he is the sire of Group 1 winners Flying Artie (Aus) and Laser Hawk (Aus).
