After a one-year COVID-19 hiatus, the Grade 2 Brooklyn Stakes returned to Belmont Park with a dazzling performance by a former claimer turned long-distance specialist, Lone Rock. Running in the colors of Flying P Stable, Lone Rock sat just off of Musical Heart for the first mile, took the lead on the final turn, and then draw away from Tizamagician and Moretti to win the $400,000 stakes for 4-year olds and up by 11 1/4 lengths.
Favored Tizamagician broke awkwardly, allowing Musical Heart and Lone Rock to grab the lead and run 1-2 for the first mile. With fractions of :23.91 for the first quarter and :47.85 for the first half, Kendrick Carmouche and Musical Heart set a steady pace, with Lone Rock and Ramon Vazquez sitting a length behind. As the field of nine rounded the sweeping final turn, Vazquez moved Lone Rock into the lead, with Tizamagician and Flavien Prat moving up as well. Into the stretch, though, neither Tizamagician nor a fast-closing Moretti could catch the Robertino Diodoro trainee. Lone Rock covered the mile and a half in 2:28.97.
The Brooklyn returned to the Belmont Stakes undercard after the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated changes to the New York Racing Association's stakes schedule in 2020. Friday's rains gave way to a beautiful Saturday, with sunshine that dried out the Big Sandy surface to a fast track.
Lone Rock (3-1) paid $8.90, $4.60, and $3.40. Tizamagician (5-2) paid $4.00 and $3.00. Moretti (6-1) paid $4.00 to show. Campaign, trained by John Sadler, finished fourth, with You're to Blame, Ry's the Guy, Ajaaweed, Rocketry, and Musical Heart rounding out the field.
Trainer Diodoro was pleased with the performance of his former claimer turned stakes horse. “He was meant to be a good horse. He's a horse that is just getting better.” Diodoro told the NYRA press office. “We just have to keep him healthy and happy as long as we can. He loves his job. When you have a horse trying to run these distances, you need one who loves to train, and he definitely enjoys training.”
Ramon Vazquez returned for his third ride and third victory aboard Lone Rock. “When I saw the other horse that has a lot of speed stumble out of the gate, I just put my horse in the best position that I could,” Vazquez said. “I just waited until the end to ask my horse and you can see what happened. It feels awesome.”
Lone Rock is a 6-year-old bay gelding by Majestic Warrior (A.P. Indy) out of Ruby Lips (Hard Spun). He was bred by Town & Country and Pollock Farms in Kentucky and was sold at Fasig-Tipton July 2016 sale for $55,000. The Brooklyn is his fifth start of 2021 and his fourth win of the year. His previous stakes races include a win in the Issac Murphy Marathon Stakes at Churchill Downs on April 27th and a close second in the Temperance Hill at Oaklawn Park in March.
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