Deterministic wins for Clément, Carmouche in Manhattan
Father’s Day may not be for another week, but it was celebrated early and emotionally Sunday at Saratoga.
Deterministic, whose trainer Miguel Clément and jockey Kendrick Carmouche both lost their dads in the past 10 months, led from the start and held on in a spine-tingling finish to win the postponed Grade 1, $1 million Manhattan Stakes going 1 1/8 miles on the inner turf at Saratoga.
Click here for Saratoga entries and results.
“It’s been tough for the family, the stable, the entire CC tribe,” said Clément, whose father and 41-time Grade 1-winning trainer Christophe Clément died two weeks ago from a rare form of cancer. “He would have wanted no other way and just hope to follow in his footsteps, to be honest.”
It was the younger Clément’s first Grade 1 victory since he took over the stable from his late father, a three-time Manhattan winner. Four-year-old Deterministic (5-1) and 5-year-old Far Bridge (3-1), 2 of 3 Clément entrants in the field of eight older horses, finished first and third in a tight finish with Integration (4-1) making a furious, late charge to split them in second.
Carmouche earned his first Grade 1 triumph in nearly five years. It also was his first since the Aug. 24 death of his father and former jockey Sylvester Carmouche Jr.
“You know, Miguel, I love you to death,” Carmouche said on New York Racing Association TV right after the win. “Both of us had such hard tragedies the last two years. Our daddies are always looking down on us and fighting with us, man.”
Racing toward the inside around both turns, millionaire Deterministic held the lead through fractions of 23.69, 48.47, 1:12.99 and 1:36.90 on the course that dried to a rating of good. Far Bridge, a $2 million earner who carried Joel Rosario into second place on the backstretch, pushed Deterministic in the last 1 1/2 furlongs to find another gear in the deep stretch.
Integration, ridden in mid-pack by John Velázquez for trainer Shug McGaughey, made a bold move from the five-sixteenths pole and charged down the four path to make it more than interesting in the deep stretch. The 5-year-old millionaire collared Far Bridge by a neck but just missed by a head catching Deterministic.
The winning time was 1:48.93.
Deterministic paid $13.60, $6.40 and $4.10; Integration $4.70 and $3.10; and Far Bridge $3.20. Corruption (18-1), Endlessly (32-1), Spirit of St Louis (9-5), Clément-trained Carson’s Run (8-1) and Tucson (10-1) finished fourth through eighth in that order.
By Liam’s Map out of Speightstown mare Giulio’s Jewel, Deterministic is owned by Vinnie Viola’s St. Elias Stable, Ken Langone, Steven Duncker and Vicarage Stable.
The Manhattan originally was scheduled to go 1 3/16 miles on the outer turf before it was washed out Saturday. It was shortened and became the finale of the five-day Belmont Stakes racing festival.