The Elkstone Group’s Social Paranoia, facing older horses for the first time in his seasonal debut, made a stunning last-to-first move on the far outside to outrun stablemate Sombeyay by 1 ¼ lengths and win Saturday’s $100,000 Appleton (G3) at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.
The 68th running of the one-mile Appleton for 4-year-olds and up on turf was among 10 stakes, six graded, worth $1.825 million on a spectacular 14-race program, immediately preceding the $750,000 Curlin Florida Derby (G1), one of the country’s premier Triple Crown preps.
Social Paranoia ($14.60) had not run since capturing the 1 5/16-mile Dueling Grounds Derby on the turf Sept. 8 at Kentucky Downs in what would be his sophomore finale. The winning time was 1:32.81 over a firm turf course in the shortest race since his second career start last August.
