Colonel Liam, Domestic Spending Dead-Heat In A Turf Classic Thriller Sponsored by: Domestic Spending (outside) and Colonel Liam hit the wire together in the Turf Classic A pair of Grade 1-winning 4-year-olds – Colonel Liam from the barn of Todd Pletcher and the Chad Brown-trained Domestic Spending – hit the wire together in Saturday's Turf Classic Stakes at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., producing the first dead-heat in the 35-year history of the Grade 1 grass fixture run immediately prior to the Kentucky Derby. Colonel Liam, ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr., seized command from front-running Smooth Like Strait in the final sixteenth of a mile in the nine-furlong race, but Flavien Prat and Domestic Spending were in full flight after boring through a narrow opening in mid-stretch and switching to the outside. Domestic Spending was gaining ground with every strike and just caught Colonel Liam when the photo finish camera clicked at the wire. Time of the race on a firm turf course was 1:47.99.