Le Bernardin dug in down the lane to gamely capture the Grade
3 $100,000 Pegasus Stakes as Inspired posted a front-running score in the $60,000
Fort Monmouth Stakes at Monmouth Park on Sunday before a record Father’s Day
crowd of 27,532.
“Monmouth Park has certainly stamped itself the place to be
on Father’s Day,” said Bob Kulina, president of Darby Development LLC,
operators of the racetrack. “We are thankful for the great crowd that came out
to the races and enjoyed a terrific afternoon of family fun and racing. We can
only hope to continue to build on this great success for years to come.”
Trained by Kiaran McLaughlin, Le Bernardin covered the
mile-and-a-sixteenth in 1:44.51 on a fast track to prevail by a neck in the
prep race for the Grade 1 $1 million Haskell Invitational to be run here on
Sunday, July 29.
Sent off at 5-1 in the field of seven 3-year-olds and
carrying 116 pounds, Le Bernardin returned $12, $5.40 and $3.40 across the
board and topped the $61.20 exacta. Easter Gift paid $4.60 to place and $3 to
show. It was another length-and-a-quarter
back to even-money favorite Good Morning Diva, who returned $2.40 to show.
“He just kept running,” said winning jockey Mike Luzzi. “I
was having trouble with him early and I put him into the race on the outside so
he wasn’t getting dirt in his face. I really had to keep after him because he
kept trying to lug in. It was surprising because he’d never done that in his
races before, but he’s only been out a handful of times. I was just trying to
get him to focus and kept him on his task all the way to the wire.”
By Bernardini from the Wild Again mare La Rosa, the Darley
Stable homebred improved his lifetime
mark to three wins from five starts. With the winner’s share of the purse, the first
time stakes-winning colt has now earned $146,000.
“It was a great win and an excellent ride by Mike Luzzi,”
said McLaughlin. “The horse seemed to be lugging in for much of the race, but
Mike did a great job. I’ve never noticed that he’s been a tough horse to ride
in the past, but Mike knows him well and did a great job today. The Haskell is
obviously a race we’ll look at after we see how he comes out of this.”
Easter Gift closed strongly through the lane to engage the
winner in a three-way stretch duel with Good Morning Diva, but Le Bernardin
proved best.
“We’ll definitely have to think about the Haskell after his
race today,” said Nick Zito, trainer of Easter Gift. “He handled two turns fine
and came running at the end. I thought it was a very good race and something we
can build off of.”
Tim Hills, the trainer of Good Morning Diva said, “I
understand why we were where we were (on the rail). I just wish we weren’t
there. The race played out like that. I don’t know about the Haskell. I’ll have
to talk that over with the owners.”
In the Fort Monmouth Stakes, Inspired broke on top and never
relinquished the lead as she scored a three-quarter length victory over Classy
Zip, who was gaining late but could not catch the winner.
Conditioned by Alan Iwinski, Inspired covered the about 5 ½ furlongs
on firm turf in 1:01.23 and paid $6.00, $2.60 and $2.40 as the 2-1 second
choice in the field of five fillies and mares. Classy Zip completed the $10.20
exacta as the 4-5 favorite and returned $2.40 and $2.10 Witchesofwestfield was
another three lengths back in third, good for a $2.60 show mutuel.
“My horse is so fast, that if I let her go, she’ll just run
so hard and tire out,” said winning jockey Roberto Alvarado, Jr. “I let her roll out of the gate and take a
light hold. That’s the way you have to ride her. She was cruising along pretty
easily and every time I asked her to give me a little more she responded.”
The Fort Monmouth victory was the seventh in 19 attempts for
Inspired, a five-year-old daughter of Unbridled’s Song out of the Mt. Livermore mare Proposal. The winner’s share of the
purse boosted her lifetime earnings to $307,385 for owner and breeder Peter E.
Blum.