Despite encountering traffic troubles at several points of the entire nine-furlong trip, Crew Dragon willed his way to a dramatic maiden special weight win Jan. 31 at Gulfstream Park.
Exaggerator wrapped up 2020 with three stakes horses in the final month of the year, and started off 2021 with four January winners from his first crop of 3-year-olds.
Crew Dragon broke sharply from post four, but took back going into the first turn to settle in fourth along the rail. Under a snug hold to stay off heels for the backstretch run, Crew Dragon was boxed in as the field entered the far turn.
With no option to go outside around horses, Junior Alvarado was left with no option to wait for a spot to opening in front of him. It wasn’t until the final sixteenth when a very narrow lane opened, and Crew Dragon gamely came through to win by a neck over Aviano.
The winner is owned by Kinsman Stable, who purchased the chestnut colt for $110,000 at the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling sale. Crew Dragon is the first foal out of Go Go Dana. His third dam Danzig’s Beauty is the dam of WinStar Farm’s linchpin stallion Distorted Humor.
