Godolphin's British Group 3 winner Ottoman Fleet carried his winning ways overseas into his North American debut, finding room down the rail in overtaking the pacesetter Tide of the Sea and finishing strong for a 1 3/4-length victory in Saturday's Grade 2, $200,000 Fort Marcy for 4-year-olds and up on the Belmont Park inner turf.
Ottoman Fleet, the even-money favorite, tracked comfortably in fifth position as 56-1 Tide of the Sea led the eight-horse field through an opening quarter mile in :23.71 seconds, the half in :47.81 and three-quarters in 1:11.91 over firm going.
Jockey Richie Mullen, who traveled with the British-bred Ottoman Fleet last week and cantered the horse over the Belmont training track, showed his familiarity with his charge, patiently saving ground before moving him up and surging past Tide of the Sea from the inside once straightened for home and completing the 1 1/8 miles on firm turf in a 1:47.25 final time.
The Tom Morley-trained Tide of the Sea ensured a high-priced exacta, holding on for second by fending off City Man by a neck. Rockemperor finished fourth, with Dynadrive, King Cause, Fort Washington and Keystone Field completing the order of finish. Law Professor, entered for the main-track only, was scratched.
“It's a beautiful track. The ground is as good as I've ridden on,” Mullen said. “With the rain we had when we arrived on Sunday, I thought this guy wouldn't mind it. But I was surprised how it has dried out. There was no kickback and the important thing with this horse is that he gets into a nice rhythm and he doesn't over race.
“He had one to aim at and I thought he might have got there a bit sooner, but the opportunity came down the rail and I had to take it,” Mullen added. “He's a horse on the up. I wouldn't be surprised for this horse to step up in grade, especially over here as I think this style of racing and track suits him.”
Trainer Charlie Appleby registered another victory at Belmont Park, building on the success he compiled previously with Althiqa in the 2021 Grade 1 Just a Game and Yibir, who won the Jockey Club Derby en route to victory in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Turf at Del Mar and Eclipse Award honors as Champion Turf Male.
Ottoman Fleet, who improved to a 4-3-3 record in 11 career starts, finished on the board for the eighth consecutive time. The 4-year-old Sea The Stars gelding out of the Motivator mare Innevera, bred in Great Britain by SCEA Marmion Vauville and Alain Jathiere, returned $4 on a $2 win wager. He also improved his career earnings to $345,259.
“He broke nicely and Richie gave him an absolute peach of a ride around,” said Chris Connett, assistant to Appleby. “When they peeled off the rail into the straight, he shot through there and put the race to bed pretty quickly. It was quite impressive.”
Flying P Stable's Tide of the Sea, ridden by Katie Davis, recorded his best finish since his last victory in the Japan Turf Cup in October 2021 at Laurel Park.
“I did gun him pretty good. He's a massive horse and I had to grab my saddle to get up on him,” Davis said. “Tom said, 'He has a big stride, don't take it away from him. Just gun him and take the lead and see if he holds on.' I looked between my legs and saw we were pretty far up there, so I kind of cocked his head towards the rail to slow him down a little, but you don't want to take away from his stride. He's got a big heart and he went on with it. It was beautiful and I'm so proud of him. He was game.”
Trevor McCarthy, the rider aboard City Man, rallied the Christophe Clement trainee from sixth to round out the trifecta. The multiple graded-stakes winning son of Mucho Macho Man was making his first start since an off-the-board effort in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational in January at Gulfstream Park.
“I think he just got a little tired when I needed him the most,” McCarthy said. “It was a beautiful trip, I was covered up the whole way. We were two-wide in the first turn and two-wide in the second turn and then got out at the corner, but we had no excuses today – the winner just had an even better trip than I did.”
City Man, bred in New York by Moonstar Farm, banked $24,000 for his third-place finish to earn millionaire status with $1,011,120 in career purse earnings.
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