Havre de Grace Leads N.Y. Eclipse Winners
Inherit the Gold made his eighth appearance in the Aqueduct Racetrack winner’s circle on Sunday, Jan. 22, coming from off thepacetoposta61/4-lengthvictoryinthe$75,000 Haynesfield Stakes for New York-breds four-years-old and up.
The six-year-old gray gelding settled 3 1/2 lengths behind the pacesetter in fourth, ahead of just one horse, the slow-starting Spa City Fever, through opening fractions of 23.44 and 48.42. After waiting behind the leaders on the far turn, Inherit the Gold made a slingshot maneuver at the top of the stretch and ran away from his rivals, with Socialsaul holding off Uncle T Seven by a half-length for second.
The final time for 1 1/16 miles over the inner track was 1:43.05. Inherit the Gold, the 7-5 second choice, paid $4.90 for a $2 win wager.
“Today, it was perfect,” said winning jockey Junior Alvarado. “The speed went to the lead and I just waited and waited and waited, and when I asked him, he was a completely professional horse. He just took off right away and that was it.”
Inherit the Gold, a six-time winner on the inner track, captured last year’s Grade 3 Excelsior Handicap in April and New York Stallion Series in November on the Big A main track. Overall, he is 9-4-3 from 21 starts with $412,685 in earnings, including the $45,000 winner’s share of the Haynesfield Stakes purse.
Inherit the Gold entered the Haynesfield Stakes off a fourth in the Alex M. Robb Stakes on Dec. 31, 2011 and a second in the Queens County Handicap on Dec. 10, 2011, a pair of races that did not favor the gelding’s running style.
Jim Hooper, who trains Inherit the Gold for Glas-Tipp Stable and his wife, Susanne, said the quicker pace in Sunday’s Haynesfield Stakes helped Inherit the Gold regain the winning thread.
“It was a fabulous performance,” said Hooper. “I knew he was good in his last two, but he was compromised by the pace and the trip. Today, things went his way. All he needs is a fair chance. If he gets a fair chance, he is going to be right there.”
Hooper said he he’ll have Inherit the Gold target title defenses in Aqueduct’s Kings Point Handicap on Mar. 3 and Grade 3 Excelsior Handicap on Mar. 17.
“He is an incredible horse,” added Hooper. “He’s got a lot of per- sonality and a lot of good things about him besides being fast.”
Spa City Fever was fourth, with Beautyinthepulpit completing the order of finish.
Snowed out last Saturday
Due to snow, Aqueduct Racetrack did not have live racing on Saturday, Jan. 21. The $75,000 Evening Attire Stakes, originally scheduled to be run today, will be rescheduled for this Saturday, Jan. 28.
Eclipse winners ran in N.Y.
Led by 2011 Horse of the Year Havre de Grace, a number of horse racing’s newest champions turned in outstanding performances on the NYRA circuit en route to being honored with Eclipse Awards last Monday night, Jan. 15, in Beverly Hills, Calif.
At Saratoga Race Course, Havre de Grace, who became the third straight female to win Horse of the Year honors, joined 2009’s Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra as the only fillies to ever beat males in the Grade 1 Woodward Stakes. Trained by Larry Jones for Rick Porter’s Fox Hill Farms, Havre de Grace followed her historic win with a dominating performance in the Grade 1 Beldame Invitational at Belmont Park.
The four-year-old Havre de Grace also won the Eclipse as the champion Older Female.
Her rider, three-time NYRA champion Ramon Dominguez, won the Eclipse for the second straight year as the nation’s champion jockey, defeating fellow New York regulars John Velazquez and Javier Castellano.
Earlier on Jan. 15, Havre de Grace’s victory in the Woodward Stakes was voted by fans as NYRA’s “Race of the Year.”
Saratoga was the setting for a memorable performance as well from Three-Year-Old Filly champion Royal Delta, whose dramatic 5 1/2- length victory in the Grade 1 TVG Alabama Stakes ended It’s Tricky’s quest to sweep the TVG Triple Tiara. Subsequently second to Havre de Grace in the Beldame Invitational, Royal Delta went on to win the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott.
The New York-based Mott, who also saddled 2010 Belmont Stakes winner Drosselmeyer to victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, won the Eclipse as the nation’s top trainer.
The undefeated My Miss Aurelia, voted the nation’s champion Two- Year-Old Filly, launched her juvenile campaign at the Spa, winning her debut on July 22, 2011 and returning to post a hard-fought victory in the Grade 2 Adirondack Stakes. Owned by Stonestreet Stable and George Bolton,shenextswepttoa51/2- length victory in the Grade 1 Frizette Stakes at Belmont prior to her win in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.
Champion Male Turf Horse Cape Blanco criss-crossed the Atlantic to take two of Belmont Park’s most prestigious grass races, the Grade 1 Man o’ War Stakes in July and the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational in October, while champion Female Turf champion Stacelita, making her third start in the United States for owner Martin Schwartz and trainer Chad Brown, won Belmont’s Flower Bowl Invitational at Belmont for her second American Grade 1 victory.
