Favorites ruled in Sunday afternoon’s New York-bred stakes
at Belmont Park, with Gitchee Goomie scoring a repeat victory in the $125,000
Mount Vernon for fillies and mares and Compliance Officer victorious in his 2012
debut, the $125,000 Kingston.
With
jockey Alan Garcia in the irons, Gitchee Goomie was content to linger near the
rear as Risky Rachel took the field of seven through a half-mile in 50.64
seconds and three-quarters in 1:15.19. Angled to the outside as they turned for
home, Gitchee Goomie hit her best stride in midstretch to take command with a
furlong to go and hold off a late bid from Hessonite to win by a half-length –
the same margin of victory as in last year’s Mount Vernon.
“She’s
just so incredibly consistent,” said trainer Rick Violette of the City Zip mare,
most recently second to Winter Memories in the Grade 3 Beaugay. “You look at her
past performances, and this makes it 15 of 18 starts, she’s been first or
second. It’s scary.”
Her
winning time for the mile over a “good” turf course was 1:38.64.
The
6-5 favorite, Gitchee Goomie returned $4.50 for a $2 win bet as she improved her
lifetime record to 6-9-1 from 18 starts. Owned by Patsy C. Symons, she earned
$75,000 for her victory and has now amassed a bankroll of $598,020.
“I’d
love to get a graded win under her belt,” said Violette. “She’s Grade 1
stakes-placed [third in the 2010 Garden City] and I’d love to win a Grade 2 or 3
with her. We might even give up a dance here just to point to something. She’s
awfully fun.”
Compliance Officer, last year’s New York-bred male turf champion, picked
up right where he left off in 2011, settling in just behind longshot
Writingonthewall as he led through a half in 48.55 and three-quarters in
1:13.30, then moving up steadily on the turn and rolling through the stretch to
post a three-quarter length victory over Lubash.
His
time for the mile was 1:37.11 under jockey Javier Castellano.
It was
the seventh victory in the last eight starts for Compliance Officer, who
rebounded from an 11th-place finish in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Mile
to win the Claiming Crown Emerald Stakes at the Fair Grounds on December 3, his
most recent start before the Kingston.
“It
was a little stressful because you never really know how they’ll come back,”
said trainer Bruce Brown of the 6-year-old LaMarca Stable color-bearer, claimed
for $25,000 just over a year ago. “You think he’s doing really well, but until
you actually get him out there and in the heat of battle, you’re not really sure
what’s going to happen. But he picked up right where he left off and he should
only get better from here on in.”
The
even-money favorite, Compliance Officer paid $4.30 for a $2 win wager and took
home $75,000 to boost his lifetime earnings to $539,566. Overall, he is 11-4-2
from 25 career starts.
Dominguez, who finished second in the Mount Vernon (race 5) aboard
Hessonite and third in the Kingston (race 7) on Street Game, extended his lead
in the Belmont spring/summer jockey standings over Javier Castellano, 32-23, as
he won four races on the card, including three straight.
After
finishing last in race 1, Dominguez commenced his own Pick 3 ($40.60) by taking race 2 aboard Wildcat Frankie
($3.00), race 3 with Arc Above ($7.20) and
race 4 on Isn’t He Perfect ($7.00). Third
in race 6 with Deflate the Bubble, Dominguez capped his afternoon by by bringing
home Lisini ($19.20) in race 8.
The
two-time reigning Eclipse champion jockey, Dominguez is the leading rider on The
New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) circuit in 2012 with 115
wins.