American Turf Stakes 2021 Results: Du Jour gets the W

Coming into the American turf we had two very distinct views among the HorseRacing.net team as our in-house handicapper was not a fan of Winfromwithin - believing leaving his Florida comfort zone would be an issue. '’I'm worried about this guy given the amount of early speed signed on for this race, in addition to the fact he must run without Lasix.' he wrote in his preview.

Whereas both J.N. and myself loved his chances - certainly at the Morning Line price being offered. 'At Tampa, one of the saltiest races that produces some excellent turf colts for the remainder of the year, is the Columbia Stakes 75k. Back in early March, this son of Into Mischief was grand up front, and Luis Saez controlled the pace from the beginning. This runner is the male version of Aunt Pearl.' J.N. said - that last sentence not looking so grand after yesterday but still - we both were happy with our selections coming in.

Within a few seconds however we were less confident as we knew we needed Winfromwithin to get to the front early. It was Excellent Timing and Next who made the early speed with the former really stretching out his lead through a quarter of a mile. Coming round the turn though they were four-wide but our choice found the lead before faltering in the final 30 strides as Bob Baffert's Du Jour came through to win giving Baffert a rare big win on the turf.

Before the race Sean did write up that he liked the winner, 'It’s not often you’ll see me tout a Bob Baffert runner on turf as they almost universally underperform, but Du Jour has run well in all three of his turf starts and is simply a good fit in this race.'

Plenty of value in the race as expected with the winner paying out a nice $13.20 and the Exacta a $298.80 payout coupled with the $0.50 Trifecta giving bettors a $652.50 return.

*The Kentucky Derby is coming up later this Saturday late-afternoon/early evening and you can bet on the race and get all our views on the 19 horses set to run via our Derby hub-page below...