Dragoon Guard a new Graded winner for Arrogate

Juddmonte homebred Dragoon Guard had his third win in succession this season with success in the Gr.3 Indian Derby on Saturday (6th July).

Taken from the Thoroughbred Daily News, 7th July 2024, by Alan Carasso:

Pegged at 7-2 on the morning line and sharing the grey/roan colouring that runs rampant in his pedigree (sire, dam, grandsire, damsire and damsire's sire), Dragoon Guard was given a positive ride from Florent Geroux and led his rivals into the first turn as Informed Patriot chased from second, with favored Gr.I Santa Anita Derby hero Stronghold in the box seat from third. Clicking off even fractions of :23.74 and :47.24, Dragoon Guard arguably landed the deciding blow through the next internal quarter mile, going from the four an a half-furlong pole to the five-sixteenths in a crisp :23.53, taking the starch out of those behind him. Dragoon Guard was firmly in front as they hit the stretch and Stronghold was pulled out to offer whatever he had left to give, but the grey colt spurted away to win off as much the best.

"He ran well," said winning trainer Brad Cox. "I thought [jockey] Florent [Geroux] did a good job of getting him away and getting him involved and taking control of the race. Look, based off pedigree and his physical, he's bred to be a two-turn, mile-and-an-eighth and farther type horse. He stepped up today in his first start around two turns and ran well."

With a profile not dissimilar to that of his late sire, Dragoon Guard just might take a similar route towards brighter lights. "I think if he continues to make progress, he could be a top three-year-old," Cox said. "I really believe that. He's a good colt. This was just the next step in his progression. I'm happy with what he was able to do today. To be one of the top three-year-olds in the country he's going to have to take a couple of more steps forward. We're hopeful that he can. We may take him up to Saratoga and train him. "I don't know if we look at something at Parx, the [Gr.1] Pennsylvania Derby. We'll let the dust settle and let him determine whether he's ready to step forward and face the best three-year-olds out there."

A debut second to future Springboard Mile Stakes winner Otto the Conqueror at Churchill last September, Dragoon Guard went missing for the rest of the year, returning to graduate by open lengths going the about seven-furlong configuration at Keeneland while earning an 88 Beyer. Stretched out to the mile for his latest, he handled wet underfoot conditions with aplomb, leading throughout to take a first-level Churchill allowance by better than three lengths on 2nd June.