Compliance Officer Wins West Point

8/19/2011 11:19 AM  | HorseRacingNation.com
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When Bruce Brown claimed Compliance Officer for $25,000 on May 14 at Belmont Park, he figured he was getting a fresh turf horse for a summer campaign. Thursday afternoon at Saratoga Race Course, the gelded son of Officer proved himself a wise investment indeed, drawing clear in the stretch to win the $100,000 West Point presented by Trustco Bank.

"He had all winter off, so I figured he was fresh," Brown said. "He ran consistently last year, so I think they just gave him the winter off because he is a turf horse. A lot of times you get a fresh horse like that, you can have some fun. I didn't expect to have this much fun!"

Rated in fourth as Lubash led through an opening quarter in 25.04 and a half-mile in 50.35, Compliance Officer advanced three wide on the far turn, grabbed the lead with an eighth of a mile to go and drew away to win by 1 ¾ lengths.

His final time for 1 1/16 miles was 1:44.40 over turf rated "good," and he returned $10 as the 4-1 third choice in the field of eight New York-breds.

"This race was definitely similar to his last race," said jockey Alex Solis. "I knew Lubash was going to be one of the speed horses and we were going to lay behind him. I had my horse in a good position and I could move him any time I wanted to. I just wanted to make sure I had enough horse in the end. He is a really nice horse and he seems to get better each time."

Compliance Officer, who carries the colors of La Marca Stable, now has three wins from as many starts since being claimed by Brown. The West Point improved his career total to 7-4-2 from 20 starts and boosted his earnings to $274,566.

The stakes victory also was the biggest to date for Brown, who saddled his first winner at Aqueduct in January 2008.

"I won a little overnight stakes [at Saratoga] last year, but this is the biggest race I've ever won, anywhere. It's great, especially to do it here. I'm a New York-bred guy, and I stay in New York year-round, so it means a lot."

Karakorum Legend finished well to get second, Pocket Cowboys was third and Lubash, Writingonthewall, Gimme Credit, Icabad Crane and Uncle T Seven completed the order of finish. Banrock, Straight Story, and main-track-only entrants Joe Corrigan, Ruffino and Slevin were scratched.
 

 

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