by Jay Bergman
East Rutherford, NJ — Crystal Fashion drove by race favorites Six
Pack and Guardian Angel As in the final strides to capture the $280,000 John
Cashman Memorial at The Meadowlands on Saturday (Aug. 3).
David Miller had Crystal
Fashion away alertly from post seven in the field of 10 and swept to the lead
quickly, hitting the opening quarter in :26.3. Six Pack, the betting favorite
at post time, had to work hard to go past Crystal Fashion and cleared past the
quarter. Six Pack controlled the pace nicely with a half in :55 for
trainer-driver Åke Svanstedt as Crystal Fashion sat patiently in the pocket.
Action picked up on the
far turn, when second choice Guardian Angel As and Tim Tetrick got into gear
and put pressure on the leader through three-quarters in 1:23.1. As the top
pair battled head-to-head, Miller was fortunate to find room to angle off the
rail with Crystal Fashion entering the homestretch. The Jim Campbell-trained
4-year-old picked up the bit and rallied gamely in the late stages to wear down
the field and score in 1:50, a Cashman Memorial stakes record-equaling time.
Guardian Angel As
finished second with Six Pack back in third.
Jules Siegel's Fashion
Farms LLC own Crystal Fashion, a gelded son of Cantab Hall that won for the
fourth time in eight starts in 2019.
"It was his first
step against older horses," Campbell said following the race. "You
give him a chance and he'll go right to the wire."
"I
was happy the way the trip worked out," said Miller. "When I got
room, he had plenty of horse."
Crystal Fashion was
racing for the first time since winning the $450,000 Hambletonian Maturity as a
23-1 shot. On Saturday, he faced older competition for the first time and
returned $18.80 to his backers.
