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Unreachable Star Untouchable in Brickyard
Unreachable Star was untouchable in the 15th running of the Brickyard Stakes Sunday, Aug. 30 at Hoosier Park Racing and Casino. The five-year-old Unloosened gelding slid up the inside for jockey Rafael Hernandez and held off a game stretch drive by Father John to grab the win by a neck at the finish line.
An inside post position of two left Unreachable Star with little room to work with early. He stayed right off the front-runners down the backstretch as Solon Express and Nelson Arroyo had the early edge on the inside over Father John and Rodney Prescott and Mo Faster and Fernando De Le Cruz. Around the turn, Hernandez began to move Unreachable Star along the rail aggressively and was in perfect striking distance behind horses in the stretch.
Halfway down the stretch, Unreachable Star found the room he needed to go head to head with Father John. Both horses fought gamely to the finish, with Unreachable Star pulling out his second stakes win at Hoosier Park. Mo Faster held onto third.
Unreachable Star now has three wins in five starts for 2009. The son of Unloosened is owned by the Loosen Up Stable and trained by Tim Glyshaw, who also conditioned the horse to a win in last year’s $100,000 Gus Grissom Stakes at Hoosier Park.
“We had hoped to get another start in him at Presque Isle Downs before this, but the race didn’t fill,” said Glyshaw. “He raced up there last year until his stake race here. He likes this track and always races well here. I have to give a lot of credit to Rafael (Hernandez). He did a great job riding today and was able to get him home. I was a little concerned at first because I thought he might be too close to the front horses, but it worked out perfectly.”
Hernandez, who just completed the meet at Fairmount Park in second place, recently moved his tack to Hoosier Park. The Puerto Rico native has already accumulated eight wins in limited starts this year to move into the top 10 spots among the leading jockeys.
“I thought I needed to be closer than normal at the start because there was too much speed in here and this track favors speed,” said Hernandez. “I moved him (Unreachable Star) around the turn and just waited for a hole to open up. Once I got clear, I started riding to the finish. This horse was not intimidated in the stretch drive. It was close but I thought I’d won it. This is the first time I’ve ridden this horse and I really liked him. I appreciate the opportunity.”
Unreachable Star now has nearly $250,000 in career earnings. He was acquired by Loosen Up Stable under different circumstances.
“We actually owned his sire, Unloosened, and when he died, we tried to go out and find as many of his colts as we could,” said Loren Hebel Osborne, one of the partners of the stable. “We got lucky and he was one of them we got. He’s been a good purchase for us.”
