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Zvika Akin, Greg Avery, Bill Wilbur and trainer Art Sherman's Dynamic Host earned his first stakes victory on Saturday when gutting out a neck victory in the Grade 3, $100,000 Tokyo City Cup Stakes at Santa Anita Park. The dark bay gelding finished up in 2:30 1/5 on the fast dirt in the 1 1/2-mile feature event on a day that celebrated Japanese culture. Skipshot and Coluda moved up to the front through the opening half-mile, but the latter eventually pulled away to set the pace while flanked by 9-5 favorite Twice the Appeal. Skipshot settled back in third and Dynamic Host bided his time in the rear before ranging up to midpack under jockey David Flores. Coluda and Twice the Appeal set quick splits of :47 3/5 and 1:12 2/5, but the pace took its toll on Coluda, who faded badly as Skipshot snuck through on the rail. Twice the Appeal also began losing ground, but Dynamic Host and Dhaamer were just getting unwound. The pair battled into the lane, with Dynamic Host just inching clear to get his neck in front on the line. "I had an excellent trip. He broke slow like he always does, so I wasn't worried about it," Flores explained. "He jumped in the bit the first time we got to the first stretch so I had to take control of him. On the second turn I let him get comfortable and he moved up to the leaders. I had to work hard from the turn onwards because he's lazy when he gets the lead. "He's got the ability to go that far, so the distance of the race was on our side. I had great position in the race, and I took advantage of that. I'm glad we came out in front." Sent off the 5-1 third pick, Dynamic Host paid $13, $5.80 and $3.60. Dhaamer finished 4 1/4 lengths in front of Skipshot, with Eldaafer, Graeme Crackerjack, Twice the Appeal, Coluda and Highway Bandit completing the order under the wire. "My horse tried hard but as soon as I got close to the winner he just took off," said Rafael Bejarano, who piloted Dhaamer. "I thought I was going to catch him because my horse showed me a big kick down the stretch, but the number eight (Dynamic Host) kept running." Dynamic Host has competed in only one other stakes contest, running fifth in last year's Grade 2 Clement L. Hirsch Turf Championship. The Dynaformer gelding was claimed by his current connections out of his last win in an August 25 optional claiming event at Del Mar, and since then has been 0-1-3 from five starts. The dark bay improved his scorecard to read 27-5-7-6 with the Tokyo City Cup score and has now earned $217,528. "He was hanging in there tough through the stretch," Sherman said. "He impressed me with his gameness, but sometimes he likes to hang. I was getting a little nervous. It was an absolutely wonderful ride by David [Flores]. "The horse showed a lot of heart. Sometimes, David would tell me, he'd get next to a horse and kind of just want to go with it. But he really bore down this time. I was happy. He could go either way [next start, grass or dirt]. You've got your options. We could take a look at the [Grade 2] San Juan [Capistrano at about 1 3/4 miles on turf] the last day here [April 22]. I'll see how he comes out of the race and how he's training." Bred in Kentucky by Gaynor Rupert, Dynamic Host is out of the French Deputy mare Hosta and counts stakes victor Elusive Pleasure as a half-brother. Hosta is herself a half-sister to Colstar, who captured the Grade 1 Flower Bowl Invitational Handicap in 2000. Other members of this family include Grade/Group 2 victors Montjoy and Wesley.
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