It looked as though Field Pass would be standing on the sidelines rather than the winner's circle, but a late burst of speed netted the son of Lemon Drop Kid top prize in a thrilling edition of the $134,000 Ontario Derby (Grade 3), Saturday at Woodbine in Toronto, Ontario.
Ridden by Kazushi Kimura, Field Pass found a seam in deep stretch and recorded a one-length win as the 5-2 second choice, as he held off Breeders' Stakes champ Belichick (also by Lemon Drop Kid) and a game Malibu Mambo to win the 1 1/8-mile added-money event. Mutuel favorite, Mighty Heart, who won the Queen's Plate and Prince of Wales Stakes, finished fourth.
It was Mighty Heat who seized control of the 3-year-old race early on, with Malibu Mambo, Field Pass and Dune of Pilat keeping tabs on the Maryland-bred grey through an opening quarter-mile in :24.30 and a half-mile clocked in :47.92.
As Rafael Hernandez urged Mighty Heart to continue his front-running ways, Malibu Mambo, under Justin Stein, and Belichick, with Luis Contreras in the irons, began to circle in on the leader. Meanwhile, Field Pass found himself in traffic trouble, as Kimura worked to find an opening with the Three Diamonds Farm silk bearer.
In deep stretch, Kimura and Field Pass bulled their way between Belichick and Malibu Mambo en route to the Michael Maker trainee's sixth career win in 15 starts.
The well-traveled colt covered the distance in an impressive 1:48.35, just missing the track record of 1:48.24 established by Global Access on September 28, 2019.
“My planning was that I didn't want to get too forward, but I didn't want to send him to the front,” said Kimura. “That was the perfect position, just waiting for room.”
The win was the fifth from nine starts on the campaign for Field Pass, who now has a trio of Grade 3s (the others are this year's runnings of the Jeff Ruby Steaks, and Kentucky Utilities Transylvania Stakes).
He arrived for his first Woodbine start after back-to-back finishes in a pair of Grade 2 events, the American Turf Stakes on September 5 at Churchill Downs, and the Twilight Derby on October 18 at Santa Anita.
With the Ontario Derby win, Field Pass, who broke his maiden in his second start on July 13, 2019, at Saratoga, is 6-2-3 from 15 starts.
“Such a classy horse,” praised Kimura. “I've watched him many times, winning replays. He's nice, a nice horse.”
Field Pass paid $7.70, $4.50, and $2.80, while Belichick returned $5.30 and $3.40. Malibu Mambo, the 2020 Queen's Plate winter book favorite, paid $3.90 to show. The 1-2 exactor paid $27.60, while a 1-2-8 triactor came back $144. A $1 Superfecta of 1-2-8-6 (Mighty Heart) returned $214.55.
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Oscar Dominguez, who pulled off an upset of United at odds of 11-1 in the 2019 Hollywood Turf Cup, is entered to defend the title when the Grade 2, $200,000 event is run for the 39th time overall and the seventh at Del Mar on Friday.
The now 7-year-old Irish-bred gelding, owned by Nancy Messineo and Bruce Sands and trained by Richard Baltas, rallied from last of 10 with a mile to go in the 1 ½-mile marathon to win by a neck under Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez last year. Another top rider from the east, Irad Ortiz, Jr., will be aboard on Friday as Oscar Dominguez seeks to end an 0-for-5 record in 2020 that has followed the Turf Cup score.
The other entrants, in alphabetical order with jockeys in parenthesis are: Another Mystery (Mike Smith), Arklow (Joel Rosario), Fivestar Lynch (Abel Cedillo), Laccario (Manuel Franco), Marckie's Water (Tiago Pereira), North County Guy (Mario Gutierrez), Proud Pedro (Juan Hernandez), Red King (Umberto Rispoli), Say the Word (Flavien Prat), Tartini (No Rider) and Ward 'N Jerry (No Rider).
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