Belmont Oaks Invitational (Grade 1)

THEY say travel broadens the mind. It can fill the pockets too, if the travel adventures are well planned and aimed at the right place.

Undeterred by her last place in the Irish 1000 Guineas, Fozzy Stack and US owner Craig Bernick took astute aim with their filly Aspen Grove at the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks Invitational, worth $500,000, at Belmont Park last Saturday and Oisin Murphy steered her home by three-quarters of a length.

Aspen Grove was last seen finishing 10th in the Irish 1000 at the Curragh on May 28th, beaten more than 14 lengths behind Tahiyra.

But she was a Group 3 winner as a juvenile and not disgraced in the Marcel Boussac at two, and owner Craig Bernick, president of Glen Hill Farm, was not discouraged, and his Justify filly, co-owned by Mrs John Magnier, rose to this occasion.

Settled

She missed the break but Oisin Murphy got her over to the rail from the outside stall and settled behind most of the field over the mile and a quarter.

After making up some ground before the turn, Murphy found a gap between runners before the final furlong, and she quickened through it in a determined run and won by three-quarters of a length, on firm turf in a time of 2m 4.09secs to take a first prize of $275,000.

Chad Brown’s Prerequisite was second and Papilio third. The Graham Motion-trained favourite, Mission Of Joy, was never in the mix and beat only two of her eight rivals.

“I was very happy because I was able to save ground towards the rail and when the pace stopped in front of me, I was able to get out on the back of a horse going forward,” Murphy said.

Bernick said of his trainer. “I have to give him all the credit. Her good races were good enough to win this and her bad races, she’s nowhere. So we thought we’d take a chance and we’re really, really excited.

Del Mar

“There’s a whole programme for her here. We could go to the Del Mar Oaks, we could go to the Saratoga Oaks (both Grade 1s in August). It didn’t seem like the distance bothered her. There’s just a great programme of races here, so I think she will stay here.”

Glen Hill Farm, near Ocala, Florida, was founded by Bernick’s grandparents, Leonard and Bernice Lavin, in 1966.

“We have a lot of turf horses here,” Bernick reported to Blood-Horse. “But we were getting beat by the European turf horses. So we started about five or six years ago building a broodmare band there (Ireland). We don’t have a lot of horses but we’re starting to have some nice ones. It’s great ... I like the camaraderie. I like the way the horses are trained.”

Belmont Derby Invitational (Grade 1)

OISIN Murphy was denied a big-race double when The Foxes stayed on powerfully up the home straight in the Grade 1 $750,000 Belmont Derby but was unable to reel in second favourite Far Bridge, just getting second by a nose but a length behind the winner who had got first run on him.

Drawn widest in 11, Murphy had to sit in rear on the Andrew Balding-trained Dante winner.

“He stood to jump and was a little slowly away,” Murphy reported afterwards.

“I followed the winner but wanted to sit closer. The winner got first run on me as we turned into the straight. The Foxes picked up brilliantly, but I’d have loved to have been more forward.”

Far Bridge, a colt by English Channel out of a Kitten’s Joy mare, owned by Larry Sarf’s LSU Stables, had been a staying on second in the Grade 2 Pennine Ridge Stakes and American Turf Stakes and will be aimed at next month’s Saratoga Derby after going one better under Jose Ortiz.

Winning trainer Todd Pletcher said: “Everything worked out. We were able to save some ground pretty much around both turns, especially the far turn.

“We knew he had a good closing kick, we just needed to be in position to deliver it.”

The other graded race on the card at Belmont, the Grade 2 Suburban Stakes over a mile and a quarter, went to the favourite Charge It for Todd Pletcher again.

The Whisper Hill Farm-owned son of Tapit controlled the pace and rolled to a four and a three-quarter-length victory under John Velazquez and Saratoga may be his next port of call.

His trainer said: “It was a good win for him. It proved he can stay the mile and a quarter and the spacing is pretty good if we want to consider the Whitney.”

John Velazquez added: “He’s a very talented horse and if he can put things together and come forward, he’ll be a tough horse.”

The Brad Cox-trained three-year-old Verifying prevailed by a nose for the Westerberg, Magnier, Poulin, Smith and Tabor ownership.

The highlight Group 2 $500,000 Delaware Handicap for fillies at Delaware Park was won by a daughter of Curlin, in the Brad Cox-trained Idiomatic.

The home-bred Juddmonte filly had a head to spare over Classy Edition.

At Prairie Meadows, the Grade 3 Cornhusker Handicap went to Giant’s Causeway’s son from his last crop in Giant Game, trained by Dale Romans for West Point Thoroughbreds and Albaugh Family Stables LLC, beating Skippylongstocking by half a length.

IRISHMAN David Duggan has retired his great servant Drafted.

The grey retires with a record of 10 wins and total earnings of $1,171,593 in a career that started as a two-year-old in 2016, when he ran at Royal Ascot for Godolphin and original trainer Eoin Harty before joining Doug Watson in Dubai. He won a pair of Group 3 events during four-seasons in Dubai before arriving in Duggan’s barn at the end of 2020.

Special

“We never thought we would get to the stage we did with him,” trainer David Duggan told Thoroughbred Racing Commentary. “All his runs were special. He was an exciting horse to watch.”

Owned by Dublin Fjord Stables, Racepoint Stables, Kevin Hilbert and Thomas O’Keefe, the nine-year-old gelding provided Duggan with some of the biggest highlights of his career, including his graded 2022 triumphs in Aqueduct’s Toboggan and Belmont Park’s Runhappy.