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Lone Rock Claims Brooklyn Stakes With Overpowering Stretch Run

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.

View the race's chart here.

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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Drain The Clock Outlasts Jackie’s Warrior To Win Woody Stephens Stakes

The Grade 1 Woody Stephens Stakes at Belmont Park was a slugfest between sons of Hill 'n' Dale Farms' Maclean's Music on Saturday, with Drain the Clock getting the best of favorite Jackie's Warrior in the deep stretch.

Drain the Clock grabbed the lead out of the gate, and set a hot pace through the first furlong of the backstretch before being joined by Jackie's Warrior on the inside. Jackie's Warrior wrestled the lead away from Drain the Clock as they passed the opening quarter in :22.09 seconds.

Jackie's Warrior was in the driver's seat heading into the turn in the seven-furlong race, with Drain the Clock on his outside hip. Jockey Joel Rosario drifted Jackie's Warrior wide as they hit the crux of the turn, and floated Drain the Clock out with him.

The opening half-mile went by in a blistering :44.19 seconds, and the pair were several paths wide entering the home stretch. Behind them, Dream Shake had a clear path on the rail and Nova Rags was advancing through a wide trip, but neither would contend with the two leaders.

Jackie's Warrior continued to keep Drain the Clock at bay after three-quarters of a mile in 1:08.88, at which point jockey Jose Ortiz, who picked up the mount in place of his injured brother Irad, started asking Drain the Clock in earnest. Drain the Clock drew even with a game Jackie's Warrior inside the final furlong, and he carried on to win by a neck. Nova Rags was 7 1/4 lengths behind the runner-up.

Drain the Clock completed the seven-furlong race in 1:22.27 over a good main track. He paid $17 to win as the field's fourth choice.

With the Woody Stephens victory, Drain the Clock improved his lifetime record to six wins in eight starts for earnings of $539,550. Saturday's race was the latest rung in what has been a steady climbing of the ladder for the colt in 2021, starting with a 7 1/2-length drubbing of the black type Limehouse Stakes at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 2. He carried on to win the G3 Swale Stakes by 6 1/4 lengths, then stretched out to two turns to finish second in the G2 Fountain of Youth Stakes. He headed into the Woody Stephens off a return to one-turn racing in the G3 Bay Shore Stakes, which he won in a front-running trip.

Drain the Clock is trained by Saffie Joseph Jr., for owners Slam Dunk Racing, Madaket Stables, Wonder Stables, and Michael Nentwig. He was bred in Kentucky by Nick Cosato, out of the Arch mare Manki.

To view the Equibase chart, click here.

G1 Woody Stephens Quotes, Courtesy of the NYRA Notes Team

Saffie Joseph, Jr., winning trainer of Drain the Clock (No. 2, $17): “We talked it over so much with [co-owner] Nick Cosato [of Slam Dunk Racing] and he wanted to break well and use him for the lead. We just left it up to Jose [Ortiz]. We told him the break was important and to make Rosario [aboard Jackie's Warrior, No. 3] make a decision. If they're going to let you lead, lead.

“Obviously, Jackie's Warrior missed the break and after that he ran up on the inside and we were in a good spot. If we were good enough then we were going to win. At the quarter pole, I thought we were going to be second. It looked like he was backing up a little bit. He dug in after that, and then Jackie's Warrior wouldn't give up. All credit to the horse.”

On taking a departure from the Triple Crown trail: “This is the benefit of making a tough decision because he got 20 points [for the Kentucky Derby] and he could have picked up more. Would he have won? Probably not. That's stretching him. After that, it was just cut back. We figured let's have a good horse at one turn.”

On a potential start in the Grade 2, $500,000 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial on August 28 at Saratoga: “That's the plan.”

Jose Ortiz, winning jockey aboard Drain the Clock (No. 2): “If [Joel] Rosario [on Jackie's Warrior] wanted the lead, I'd rather have him rush inside of me. It was my game plan to break better, outrun him out of the gate in the first couple jumps and go as far out as I could, as long as I was clear. I wasn't planning to mess with anybody; you can see as soon as Rosario came back in, I came back in. I didn't want him outside of me putting pressure on me the whole way.”

On the stretch-duel between Drain the Clock and Jackie's Warrior: “It was great. It's great for racing. That's what it's all about, people want to come here to see those kinds of duels. It was a great race, everybody gave their best. I'm just happy we came out with the win and I'm happy filling in for Irad [Ortiz] and not messing it up. He told me the horse was very classy, Saffie was great, and the owner was great, too. The owner was the one that told me if you can outrun him out of the gate and make him go inside, that would be great, to have him inside of us.”

Joel Rosario, jockey aboard runner-up Jackie's Warrior (No. 3): “He just kind of stumbled a little bit coming out of the gate and missed the break. Then he went and did his best, but I think the break out of the gate was the key. He still ran his race.”

Junior Alvarado, jockey aboard third-place finisher Nova Rags (No. 1): “The track is still playing a little bit to the fast side, which will benefit horses on the lead. My horse broke good and I let him settle and make a run. He was there for me. He was trying for me at the end.”

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Adayar Surprises In The Epsom Derby

Frankel finally has his classic winner in Adayar. Three years after Godolphin's first win with Masar, Adayar and Adam Kirby stormed home to a surprise five-length victory in the mile-and-a-half Derby at Epsom. Longshot Mojo Star (50-1) and Hurricane Lane (6-1) rounded out the top three with Mac Swiney in fourth.

After losing the mount on John Leeper earlier this week, Kirby was able to secure a Derby ride on Adayar, trained by Charlie Appleby. Considered Goldolphin's third-string horse, Adayar's limited experience and disadvantageous post had this son of Frankel go off at 16-1. A patient ride by Kirby, who kept his horse just off the pace for the first mile, enabled Adayar to take off in the stretch, passing Gear Up and Youth Spirit and sprinting off to a clear lead as they approached the wire.

Adayar becomes the legendary Frankel's first English classic winner. He is a Godolphin homebred out of the Dubawi mare Anna Salai. The Derby is the fifth start of his career and his second win.

“All I could think of was my mother, she would be watching me, she'd be happy,” jockey Adam Kirby told ITV after the race.

Adayar's Derby win is the first Classic victory for Kirby and the second for trainer Charlie Appleby and owner Godolphin Racing.

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Baron Samedi Continues European Dominance In Marathon Belmont Gold Cup

Baron Samedi continued the dominance of European runners in the Grade 2, $400,000 Belmont Gold Cup at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y., on Friday, closing strongly in the stretch under John Velazquez to win the two-mile turf race by 2 3/4 lengths as the 6-5 favorite. It was the seventh consecutive victory for the English-bred gelded son of Harbour Watch dating back to August 2020.

Argentine-bred Fantasioso finished second with Javier Castellano aboard, with Ajourneytofreedom (one of three entries from the barn of Mike Maker) third and Kinenos fourth in the field of nine older marathoners.

Baron Samedi covered the two miles on yielding turf in 3:27.30, more than 10 seconds slower than 2018 winner Call to Mind ran the distance. Trained in Ireland by Joseph O'Brien, Baron Samedi became the fourth consecutive Belmont Gold Cup winner to invade from Europe. The only starter in this year's field based in Europe, he paid $4.60 to win.

Inaugurated in 2014, the Belmont Gold Cup is the longest graded stakes run in North America.

The final four races on Friday's program were delayed when a thunderstorm moved through the area, dumping a significant amount of rain on the course.

Owned by LECH Racing LLC, Baron Samedi was sold for about US$5,000 as a weanling. He was slow to develop as a racehorse, losing his first five starts, and didn't win his first race until after being gelded. Once he figured out how to win, however, he has not finished behind another horses, gradually moving from the Irish handicap ranks into Group company, ending his 2020 campaign with a win in a Group 2 race at Longchamp going 1 3/8 miles and then launching his 2021 season with a win in the Group 3 Vintage Crop Stakes going 1 3/4 miles at Navan in Ireland on April 25.

Velazquez allowed Baron Samedi to settle into sixth position early as So High and Eric Cancel grabbed the early lead, going an opening quarter mile in :24.37, a half in :50.11 and six furlongs in 1:15.48.

Conviction Trade and Jose Ortiz raced in second through the opening mile in 1:43.03, then took over from the leader in the second run down the backstretch.

As the field rounded the final turn following a 1 1/4-mile clocking in 2:08.61, So High re-engaged with Conviction Trade, but the field was closing in on the two leaders.

Ziyad was the first to make a move, and Velazquez followed that one into the stretch while hugging the inside hedge. Once Baron Samedi cleared Ziyad, Velazquez swung him off the rail and took dead aim on the front-runners. Baron Samedi veered outwardly under a left-handed strike of the whip from Velazquez and into the path of a closing Fantasioso, the eventual runner-up, but there was no inquiry or claim of foul from that incident.

“The winner came out, but he was clear,” Castellano said. “He opened up by two lengths and it didn't affect me at all.”

Straightened away and under right-handed pressure, Baron Samedi took command and maintained the advantage over the runner-up in the final furlong to win comfortably.

“Baron Samedi is a very good horse and Johnny [Velazquez] gave him a great ride.
said O'Brien. “He hadn't been that far before, but he had handled that kind of track before, so we weren't worried about the rain. We just worried about them taking the race off the turf.

“This horse just doesn't get tired, he just keeps coming and coming,” Velazquez said. “But I had to ride him because he's kind of slow-paced. He's a grinder; just keeps coming and coming. I didn't want to end up being a little too soon so I thought I' better just keep him going. He did everything good. Once we got to the three-eighths pole I was riding him and getting to where I wanted to be and he gave me a good feeling from then on. The course was very soft, but he handled it well. No complaints.”

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