FOLLOWING Action Run’s upset win in the $1-million Ahwhofah Sprint feature on Saturday, trainer Gary Crawford said he was very confident his charge would have gotten the job done even with the presence of the talented, American-bred Sparkle Diamond.

Ridden by apprentice Tevin Foster, Action Run came with a strong run in deep stretch to beat 2/5 favourite Sparkle Diamond by a head in the Non-Restricted Overnight Allowance event over six furlongs (1,200m).

Action Run ( Uncaptured – Fast Action), who was sent off as a 10-1 betting option in the 10-horse field following the scratch of Duke, completed the distance in a time of 1:13.0 minutes for his third-consecutive win.

“The performance from Action Run was excellent; I was also very confident in him winning this race. I mean, my horse ran more times than Sparkle Diamond; particularly too, Sparkle Diamond was coming off a rest and not having run for a while.

“Also, Action Run was coming off two wins and was showing steady improvement in his preparatory gallops during exercise,” Crawford told The Supreme Racing Guide.

“We have good plans for him [ Action Run] in the future. He seems to be a better middle distan[ce] runner than further. However, we will take it one day at a time to get the best result he has to offer,” Crawford added.

Foster held Action Run off the pace as Harry’s Train (Romario Spencer) set the pace ahead of Bold Aflair (Daniel Thompson). As the runners made their way around the half-mile (800m) mark, Harry’s Train continued to lead with Sparkle Diamond (Shane Ellis) slipping down to second place, looking dangerous with every stride taken as Action Run made improvement.

Sparkle Diamond took over in deep stretch and looked the likely winner, but Foster urged his mount and Action Run responded by getting up in the nick of time for the win. God of Love (Christopher Mamdeen) was third.