April 14, 2012 (Charles Town, WV) – Rarely would a victory by Todd Pletcher or Javier Castellano in a big race be termed an upset, but such was the case on Saturday night when Repole Stable’s Caixa Eletronica swept to the lead turning for home and drew off to a 3 length win in Saturday night’s $1,000,000 Charles Town Classic (G2), the West Virginia track's first graded event in history.
Fourth down the back stretch, Caixa Eletronica sat behind a pace set early on by Rosie Napravnik on Pants on Fire, with Skipshot and 1.90-to-1 favorite Tackleberry in pursuit. However, entering the final of the three turns, it looked like a replay of last year’s Charles Town Classic as defending champion Duke of Mischief made a 5-wide move to seize the lead under Joe Bravo. While Duke of Mischief looked to be headed for the repeat, Castellano and Caixa Eletronica drew alongside with a little over a furlong to go and went on to score the richest win of the former claimer’s career.
Despite being sent off at odds of 8.40-to-1, Castellano’s confidence in his mount never wavered.
“I talked to Todd a couple days ago he said to put the horse in the race. I rode this track one other time before and knew he’d be right there,” said Castellano, second aboard Ea in the 2009 Charles Town Classic. “I’m proud of Todd and how he put this horse in. A lot of people had questions about this horse, but I was very comfortable riding for Todd.”
Duke of Mischief held on for second while longshot Mister Marti Gras ran on for third. Tackleberry finished evenly and ran fourth for the second year in a row in the Charles Town Classic.
The evening saw unprecedented wagering success at Charles Town with several pari-mutuel records falling. The Charles Town Classic card established a new single card handle mark of $3,441,631 shattering the previous record set on Charles Town Classic day in 2010 of $2,584,876. The Charles Town Classic set a single race wagering mark for the track, taking in $1,006,789 in handle. The late Pick 4, with a guaranteed pool of $50,000, was the largest Pick 4 in track history with $159,056 bet.
“It was a simply a great night for racing at Charles Town,” said Erich Zimny, Director of Racing Operations. “In addition to some great horses and racing, TVG’s presence added a lot of excitement to the event. Thanks to Simon Bray, Tom Cassidy and the rest of the TVG team for helping add to the success of our evening.”
