CLARK HANDICAP

(Grade 1)

EFFINEX, second to American Pharoah in the Breeders’ Cup Classic last time out, got his own Grade 1 for the season when he held off Bob Baffert’s Hoppertunity to win the Grade 1 Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs last Friday.

Favourite in the nine-horse field after his Breeders’ Cup run, the four-year-old New York-bred son of Mineshaft collected the first Grade I victory of his career for trainer Jimmy Jerkens. He also won the Grade 2 Suburban Handicap this year and placed third in the Jockey Club Gold Cup (Grade I).

Effinex closed wide after tracking in fifth early under jockey Mike Smith and took over from Race Day after three-quarters of a mile. That horse took the advantage turning for home, but Effinex took it up again and held Hoppertunity and the game run of longshot Looks To Spare. Grade I winner Keen Ice who beat American Pharoah in the Travers finished well.

“He’s done some quirky things,” Smith said of Effinex. “Instead of grabbing him and trying to make him stay in his left down the turn and stay in his right down the lane, I just go with him and it works. So far, so good.”

“He ran a hard race in the Breeders’ Cup, but he shipped all the way back (to New York) on the van and acted like a fresh horse so we decided to come back,” Jerkens said.

Effinex has won seven of his 20 starts for earnings of $2,112,950,