Yeudiel dials up 25th winner for Gone Astray, who’s nearing $1 million

After finishing second at Mountaineer on Dec. 8 in his final start of 2021, Yeudiel ended up on the shelf until returning yesterday to score his third victory in 23 career starts.

The 5-year-old Gone Astray gelding had been knocking on the door for six months prior to his vacation, going to the sidelines with a record of 1-5-3 in his previous 10 tries. With Luciano Hernandez aboard for his return, Yeudiel was off fifth from the one post in the one-mile race, and dropped back about eight lengths from the lead down the backstretch. He began to slowly close the gap coming to the turn, then cruised up four wide to take on 9/5 pace-setter Just Nod and Smile heading into the stretch. The two were glued to each other right to the wire, with Yeudiel getting the final nod and winning by a head.

Yeudiel was well-bet for his return and paid $6.80 as second choice. He raised his record for his 23 starts to 3-8-5 and the $4,582 check boosted his career total to $36,794. He’s the 25th winner of 2022 for Gone Astray, who inched a little bit closer to his next milestone with earnings of $954,590.

On the other side of the continent, after mustering up just one third-place finish in nine starts in the U. S., Inspiratus made it two straight victories with a romp under Chavion Chow at Assiniboia Downs in Canada. The 3-year-old daughter of Ride on Curlin, a $14,000 OBS June 2-year-old bred by Casey Seaman, was 3 1/2 lengths in front in mid-stretch and widened it to 7 1/4 at the wire, getting 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:07 flat.