Far back early and seemingly out of contention, Richard Ravin’s Irish-bred Strait of Mewsina rallied from last to first to win a blanket finish in the 44th running of the Grade 3, $250,000 Hawthorne Derby by a neck over Cherokee Triangle. It was only a head back to Snoose Goose in third. The overwhelming favorite Adriano finished fourth, beaten about a half-length for the top prize. Mr. Mischief was a head further back in fifth.

Trained by Larry Rivelli and ridden to victory by E.T. Baird, the son of Spartacus had to overcome a jockey’s objection before the 19-1 longshot was declared the official winner. The mile and one-eighth race for 3-year-olds was timed in 1:49.98 on a turf listed as firm.

“I was feeling pretty good after the fast fractions,” Baird said, commenting on what many expected to be a slow early pace. “When you ride a lot of races sometimes it happens. When you look at a race like this, in a race that doesn’t figure to have a lot of pace, sometimes the riders might be told keep their runners forwardly placed. It just set up nicely for us.”

That “set up” came in the form of a 23.37 opening quarter and a 47.72 half-mile as Robscarvic and Mr. Mischief battled early. Cherokee Triangle and surprisingly, Adriano, were not far behind at any point of the race, but nobody could hold off Strait of Mewsina through the lane, as he recorded his third lifetime win, but his first triumph in 2008.

“That was a pretty big win for us,” said Rivelli. “We bought this horse in Ireland so we obviously figured we could run him in these types of races, being a 3-year-old race this late in the year. I really think this horse wants to run about a mile and a half. E. T. did
a great job. We’ll probably just put him away for the rest of the year. This was a good way to finish out the year. We obviously put him in a Grade 1 at Arlington. I’m not the kind of guy that will put a horse in a race where I don’t think he has a shot but we were looking a little silly before today.”

Kent Desormeaux, aboard beaten favorite Adriano said, “I was quite comfortable until the 3/8ths, then I asked him to run and that was it.”

Strait of Mewsina returned $41.40 $14.20 and $13.60. Cherokee Triangle paid $7.00 and $7.40 and Snoose Goose returned $12.80 to show.

Additional Quotes:

“It didn't look like we had any huge excuses," said Bill Mott of his trainee Adriano. The horse will head off to a planned rest."

“It was a real good race between all four who finished on the board,” said Cherokee Triangle’s jockey Victor Lebron. “It was a tough race, my horse ran a really good race. No excuses, no complaints."