Owner Peter Brant and trainer Chad Brown were in the winner's circle after the Grade 1, $750,000 New York Stakes on Friday at Belmont Park, but it wasn't with the entrant the tote board might have suggested.
The French-bred Rougir was the 1-2 favorite off her $3.4 million purchase price and winning U.S. debut in last month's G3 Beaugay, but it was her undefeated stablemate Bleecker Street who rallied from the rear of the field to score the win at odds of 5-2. Irad Ortiz, Jr. piloted the 4-year-old daughter of Quality Road to her half-length victory in the 1 1/4-mile contest, stopping the clock in 2:02.58 over the firm turf.
“What a remarkable horse,” Brown said of Bleecker Street. “I wasn't sure about a mile and a quarter. She finished her races like she would get it, but as you know, handicapping doesn't always work out that way. Just because they're closing and you keep on stretching them out, sometimes it has to do with pace, when they make their move and how long their move is. This filly does everything we put at her. What a remarkable horse – where she started and where she came from. She's moving up in the ranks of one of the better ones I've had.”
Of course, four of the seven New York Stakes entrants were wearing Brant's silks, so the odds were certainly in his favor. Rougir, co-owned by Michael Tabor, finished off the board; Flighty Lady ran third at 51-1; and Virginia Joy was fourth at 9-2.
“[Rougir] just didn't fire today,” Brown continued. “She was in a good spot, always ahead of Bleecker Street. We didn't have any excuse. We'll go back to the drawing board. Maybe the softer ground in her form suggested [she prefers softer turf[, but she certainly trained really well at Belmont.”
Breaking up the Brown team with a second-place finish was Family Way (10-1) for Tyler Gaffalione and Brendan Walsh.
“She ran a great race,” Walsh said of Family Way. “She ran super. She's absolutely a Grade 1 filly.”
Bleecker Street trailed the field early, while longshot Flighty Lady led the way from the start, cruising along on an uncontested lead through fractions of :24.54, :50.76, and 1:16.48. Family Way began to inch toward that leader entering the far turn, while Flavien Prat wound up sending the favored Rougir four-wide to make her bid.
Ortiz tracked Prat's move in the bend, angling out at the last possible moment to allow Bleecker Street to build up her momentum. She and Rougir turned for home on nearly even terms in fifth position, but Ortiz kept working away on Bleecker Street and she finally caught sight of her other rivals with enough time to run them down in the final sixteenth of a mile.
It was a big turn of foot that put Bleecker Street in front by a half-length at the wire, defeating Family Way. Flighty Lady hung on to be third over stablemate Virginia Joy, while Rougir did not engage and finished fifth.
“Her closing kick, especially with those slow fractions, was nice,” said Ortiz. “Not too many horses can go around a slow pace, slow fractions, like that. I made a wide move to go around and she still got there. She gave me a good kick. She's very nice. They were backing up into me a little bit and they were a little slow and then everybody was sprinting home, so it was hard to catch them. But she got the job done.”
Bred in Kentucky by Branch Equine, Bleecker Street is out of the stakes-placed Exchange Rate mare Lemon Liqueur. She commanded a final bid of $400,000 as a yearling at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select sale, and has now won all seven of her lifetime starts for earnings of $834,700. Bleecker Street's other three graded stakes triumphs include the G3 Modesty, G2 Hillsborough, and G3 Endeavour.
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