H. Allen Jerkens has pulled off an upset or two in his Hall
of Fame career, and Friday’s Opening Day at Belmont Park was no exception as he sent out
27-1 Le Grand Cru to capture the 82nd running of the Grade 3, $100,000 Westchester, the trainer’s sixth victory in
the race.
Jerkens, whose first victory in the Westchester came in 1975
with Step Nicely, also saddled Fabulous Find (1982), Singh Tu (1983), Virginia
Rapids (1994) and Wagon Limit (1998) to win the one-mile race.
“I didn’t think he was that big a long shot,” said
Jerkens of Le Grand Cru, who won the Grade 3 Kelso Handicap at Belmont Park last October but who was winless
in four starts at Gulfstream Park
this year. “I don’t know why he didn’t run so well in Florida,
but we gave him a rest and he had a couple of real nice works, just great.”
Ridden by Cornelio Velasquez, the 5-year-old son of
Dynaformer broke sharply, then settled down to stay just off early fractions of
23.34, 46.15 and 1:09.52 set by Ironman Jon. Moving up on the turn to challenge
the pacesetter, Le Grand Cru took command in mid-stretch and pulled clear to
hit the wire in 1:34.89 over the fast track.
“My horse broke on the lead and stayed in a good position,”
said Velasquez. “He relaxed, didn’t fight. Ramon Dominguez had a lot of horse
(aboard Ironman Jon), but my horse ran a big one. He likes it here at Belmont Park.”
Coming on late for second, 2 ¼ lengths back, was
Convocation, trained by Jerkens’ son, Jimmy, and holding on for third, a head
back, was Ironman Jon, trained by former Jerkens’ assistant Mike Hushion.
“Well, if we had to get beat, at least we got beat by the
Chief,” said Jimmy Jerkens with a smile.
Le Grand Cru, now 5-3-2 from 18 lifetime starts, returned
$56.50 for a $2 win bet to his backers in the crowd of 5,765 as Belmont Park
kicked off its 59-day Spring/Summer Meet. With the winner’s purse of $60,000,
he has now earned $433,578 for Judson Streicher.
“We’ll enjoy this one and see how he comes out of it,” said
Jerkens. “But, of course, we will look at the [Grade 1, $500,000] Met Mile [May
31] - do we ever stay home when we should?”
Finishing fourth was Honest Man, who in turn was followed by
favored Bribon, the 2009 Westchester
winner, Past the Point, More Than a Reason, and Giant Moon.
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