A Flat Out Huge Performance
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Photo:
NYRA, Adam Coglianese
For
those of us who have been following Flat Out for the better part of
three years, the winning of a big race like yesterday's Grade 2
Suburban Handicap at Belmont Park came as no surprise. What was
surprising however, was the way he did it. A 6 ½ length runaway as
the longest shot on the board at 13-1? A final time of 1:46.64 for
the nine furlongs with a Beyer speed figure of 113? Talk about a flat out breakout performance, this
was it. In 124 previous runnings of the traditional holiday weekend
affair, I dare say there have not been many horses who have ever run
better in the Suburban.
In
winning just his second stakes race of his career, Flat Out recorded
his fourth win in only nine lifetime starts. Not a lot of action for
a talented five-year-old, but the son of Flatter, who was so
impressive in the Smarty Jones Stakes back in January of 2009 has
been besieged with quarter-cracks and setbacks throughout his career.
Yesterday's
pip of a performance announced that he is fully back from a
twenty-month layoff from April of 2009 until December of last year,
and now he looks better than ever.
With
my money riding on his nose yesterday, I watched Flat Out from the
very beginning. Alex Solis kept on the outside and not too far from a
decent early pace set by even-money favorite Rodman. Even early on
you could tell that Solis had a lot of horse, as Flat Out looked
ready to roll while his jockey waited for the time to let him loose.
Even under little encouragement, Flat Out was able to inch closer to
the lead as the chalk led the field through opening fractions of
23.95, 47.02 and 1:10.65. By the time the field was on the middle of
the turn, he was only a few lengths behind and ready to explode. When
the horses hit the straightaway, there was little doubt who was
running the best.
Flat
Out swooped quickly to the lead on the far outside and powered home
down the Belmont lane. Gobbling up large chunks of ground with every
stride, he was further lengthening his lead at the wire. Hymn Book,
the second choice, outgamed Rodman to earn second place money, but
make no mistake, this race was all about Flat Out.
[As of this morning Flat Out is still nowhere to be seen on HRN's Active Power Rankings]
[As of this morning Flat Out is still nowhere to be seen on HRN's Active Power Rankings]
"We
gave him time, and waited on him, and today, he's paying us back,"
said winning trainer, Charles Dickey. "We've done everything we
can right for him and he's responding real well and running good."
Running
good may be a bit of an understatement. If Flat Out can do what he
did yesterday again, he will prove a major player in all the major
stakes for older horses right up through this fall's Breeders' Cup
Classic.
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