My Lunar Charm upsets in $100,000 Snack Handicap at Horseshoe Indianapolis

It was a performance “out of this world” as My Lunar Charm and Irving Moncada emerged between horses and sprinted away with the win in the 18^th running of the $100,000 Snack Handicap Saturday at Horseshoe Indianapolis.

The pair covered the one mile race over the turf in a time of 1:42.58.

Starting from post four, My Lunar Charm wasn’t in the picture at the start as Star Promise and Joe Ramos rallied out to take over the top spot, alone on the lead heading into the first turn. The leader had several lengths on the rest of the field all the way down the backstretch with Vienna Charm and Rodney Prescott saving ground inside from their post one starting spot.

Hard Luck Prayer and Andres Ulloa were also keeping a steady watch on the leader from the two path with Mr Sledge Hammer and Alex Crispin also up close early on.

Midway through the final turn, the pack began to catch up with Star Promise and when the field moved into the stretch, Star Promise drifted out into the center of the track, allowing Vienna Charm to move up the inside and take a short lead.

From there, it was anyone’s race as the stretch was full of horses across the track. My Lunar Charm was buried behind horses and slipped out into the three path for a few strides. He not only squeezed between two horses to advance, My Lunar Charm squeezed through two horses again closer to the finish line. The second move gave him momentum, and he sprinted to the wire as a one and one-quarter length winner over Hard Luck Prayer. Q’s Topnotch and Amir Mendoza finished third.

“I wasn’t sure if this race was long enough for him or not, but I knew he would finish,” said Moncada. “When I called on him early, he responded, so I knew he had a lot of horse left. It was sort of a tricky trip, going between horses, and we were weaving around, but it worked out for us.”

My Lunar Charm paid $41.60 for the win, the first of his career. The three-year-old grey son of Charming Kitten is owned by longtime Indiana horseman Blaine Davidson and trained by Steve Fosdick. It was his 11^th career start as he moved over the $100,000 mark with his win in the $100,000 Snack Handicap.

“I wasn’t sure he could win, but I knew he would be close,” added Fosdick. “I was also concerned this race wasn’t long enough, but he can finish. The way the race set up today favored him to close at the end.”

Like Fosdick, Moncada thought the stretch drive might not work out for them to get through, as there were many horses in front of them they had to pass. However, My Lunar Charm is athletic enough to maneuver into the spaces Moncada needed him to be in.

“We were in the two path the whole way,” added Moncada. “At the top of the stretch, I moved him out to the three path and all I could see in front of me was a line of horses. I was hoping the three path would carry us through all of them and it did.”

My Lunar Charm was making his fourth start over the turf. He previously had two second-place finishes over the grass, showing an affinity for the surface.

The race is named in honor of former Indiana bred Snack, who was campaigned by Mike and Penny Lauer. Although his career was cut short due to an injury, Lauer’s homebred horse was a winner in four of his nine career starts in only two years of racing.

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