Vergara and Kitodan posted victories of contrasting styles in back-to-back stakes for 3-year-olds Monday at turf-only Kentucky Downs in Franklin, Ky. Vergara, always on the pace, had to dig down deep in posting a hard-fought triumph in the $450,250 Dueling Grounds Oaks some 30 minutes before Kitodan launched a huge rally from well back for a four-length jaunt in the Grade 3, $750,000 Dueling Grounds Derby. Both races were run at the once-around distance of 1 5/16 miles over a course rated good, and both were part of an 11-race card postponed by 24 hours from an original Sunday date. Because of fierce rainstorms that lingered into Sunday, Kentucky Downs canceled its last four races Saturday before being able to resume action Monday. After Monday, the third of seven programs at this boutique meet, live action resumes Thursday at Kentucky Downs, with the final three dates being Sept. 10, 11, and 14. Dueling Grounds Oaks Joel Rosario picked up right where he left off last September by returning to the Kentucky Downs winner’s circle in his first day of action at the 2022 meet. Rosario was aboard Vergara when the filly turned back a sustained stretch bid from Skims in prevailing by a head. Vergara, trained by Graham Motion for Gary Broad, returned $10.96 as third choice in a field of 11 fillies after finishing in 2:14.95. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match and FREE Formulator PPs! Join DRF Bets. “When the other horse came to us, it looked like that horse would get by,” said Rosario, “but [Vergara] was game, and she came back and got ’em.” Vergara now has won 3 of 8 starts, with her only prior stakes victory coming last November in the Tepin at Aqueduct. She was coming off a just-miss second in the Grade 3 Colleen on Aug. 6 over the Woodbine turf. Vergara contested the pace from the opening bell alongside Turnerloose, forging to a solo lead midway down the long stretch before Skims and jockey Julien Leparoux came to call. For a fleeting moment, it looked as if Skims had the upper hand, but Vergara, remaining closest to the inner rail, battled back to win. “We got about a half-length in front, but the other filly came back on us,” Leparoux said. It was another 2 1/2 lengths back to California Angel in third, with New Year’s Eve, the 5-4 favorite, never a real threat when another three-quarters of a length back in fourth. Rosario, the 2021 Eclipse Award winner for outstanding jockey, set Kentucky Downs single-meet records last year by winning 17 races and more than $2.9 million in mount earnings. He took off all his closing-day mounts at Saratoga to ride instead at Kentucky Downs, where he will ride through the balance of the meet. He added a second win on the card when first-time starter Play the Music ($10.36) took the race-11 nightcap. The Oaks was worth less than the $500,000 maximum because Skims, a British-bred by Noble Mission, is ineligible for the Kentucky-bred bonuses that comprise half the purses for both races. Dueling Grounds Derby When Kitodan eked out a 40-1 upset of the $200,000 Audubon in June over the Churchill Downs turf, his trainer, Eric Foster, called it his greatest win in nine years of training. You can now update that proclamation – in a big way. Kitodan, showing the Audubon was no fluke, rallied from ninth when flying past a deeper group in the Dueling Grounds Derby, finishing in 2:15.41 under Gerardo Corrales and touching off a raucous celebration from his connections. The Point of Entry colt paid $43.48. Grand Sonata, the 9-2 second choice for Todd Pletcher, had a ground-saving trip when settling for second, another 3 1/2 lengths ahead of 17-1 shot Mount Rundle in a field of 12 colts and geldings. Ready to Purrform, the 3-2 favorite under Rosario, had no apparent mishap when sixth in his first outing since he won the Grade 2 Hall of Fame Stakes on the Saratoga turf in early August. Foster, based at Ellis Park in western Kentucky, claimed Kitodan for $80,000 at Churchill Downs in mid-May on behalf of a partnership that includes his family and friends, including Doug Miller and Bill Wargel. The bay colt won the Audubon in his first try off the claim before finishing fourth in the American Derby at Churchill and fifth in the Evan Williams at Ellis in his two subsequent starts. He now has won 6 of 15 overall, with the winner’s share for the Dueling Grounds Derby being a whopping $432,450. “After worrying all week about the turf and the weather, I just knew we had him ready,” Foster said. “I can’t hardly talk, I nearly lost my voice rooting him in.”