Mill House LLC’s
Rattlesnake Bridge came with a furious stretch rally to wear down All of the
Above by a nose in the $150,000 Long Branch Stakes, giving trainer Kiaran
McLaughlin a record-tying fourth winner on the Saturday card at Monmouth
Park.
Rattlesnake Bridge, the
$2.20-1 favorite in the field of eight 3-year-old colts and geldings, waited
until the three-eighths pole before moving widest for the drive. The son of Tapit, under Eddie Castro, covered
the mile and sixteenth over the fast main track in 1:41 3/5 and paid $4.40, $3
and $2.80. All of the Above rounded out
the $27.40 exacta and paid $6.20 and $4.60.
It was another length and three-quarters back to Little Drama, who paid
$4.60 to show.
“It was a great
performance,” said McLaughlin. “He
stumbled a little coming out of the gate, and I actually thought he’d be a
little further back with them going :22 3/5 for the first quarter.”
As for a return trip in
three weeks for the $1 million Haskell Invitational, “We’ll talk it over, but
we’d love to come back for the Haskell.”
Making just his fifth
career start, Rattlesnake Bridge scored his second victory by taking the Long
Branch. The winner’s share of $90,000
moved his lifetime bankroll to $153,200.
In addition to earning an
invite to the $1 million Haskell Invitational on July 31, Rattlesnake Bridge
gave Kiaran McLaughlin his fourth victory on the card, tying four other
conditioners that have accomplished the feat.
McLaughlin’s four-bagger started in the first race with Oflee Wicked
($13.40), then in the third with Call First ($10.60) and the eighth with
Distant Sky ($7.20). He joins J. Willard
Thompson, Robert Klesaris, John Forbes and Bruce Alexander in winning four
races on a single Monmouth
Park card.
“We love Monmouth Park,”
McLaughlin said. “We love the Shore and Monmouth Park has always been a favorite. To win four races in one day is great.”
Earlier in the day, Saleh
Y. Al-Homaizi’s Sayif took his five foes wire-to-wire in the $75,000 Battlefield
Stakes.
Trained by Patrick
Biancone, Sayif stepped the mile over a “yielding” turf in 1:34 2/5 and
returned $28.40, $12.20 and $4.80. It
was a length back to Yummy with Butter, who completed the $209.40 exacta and
paid $8.80 and $4.20. Monument Hill was
another two lengths back in third, good for a $3 show mutuel.
“He’s an incredibly nice
horse,” said winning jockey Channing Hill.
“I’ve been breezing him and he’s been breezing really well. When we got to the eighth pole, I knew we
were home because if someone was going to run us down, they were really going
to have to be moving.”
The Battlefield win was the
third in 19 starts for the Irish-bred Sayif, a 5-year-old colt by Kheleyf from
the Rudimentary mare Sewards Folly. He
has now earned $344,931.