Air Force Blue’s Fighting Force Wins Not Surprising

Fighting Force (3c Air Force Blue x No Splits, by Smart Strike) returned to his winning ways on Saturday when giving Air Force Blue a stakes winner in the Not Surprising Stakes at Gulfstream.

Racing over a mile on the turf, the colt let fellow Air Force Blue runner King of Dreams push the pace as he settled on the rail a few lengths behind the dueling leaders. As they navigated the far turn, Sam Camacho took the big bay off the rail to circle the two leaders and it didn’t take long before he had the lead.

Even geared down in the final furlong, Fighting Force pulled away to win by 3 ½ lengths with the third place horse 7 ½ lengths adrift the winner.

Trained by Jeff Engler for Lea Farms, Fighting Force took his earnings above $127,000 for the win with five top three finishes in 10 starts.

A $400,000 OBS March 2-Year-Olds In Training purchase, Fighting Force was bred by Royal Oak Farm out of their winning smart strike mare No Splits. That mare is also the dam of stakes-placed Lucky Jingle and is a daughter of Grade II winner Great Intentions.

Fighting Force also comes from the family of Grade I winner Karlovy Vary and her Grade III winning Uncle Mo son Bye Bye Melvin with champion War Pass also on the page.

Champion racehorse Air Force Blue is a top 10 second crop sire by number of both overall and 2021 winners.