Diversify likely waiting for Woodward off 'spectacular' win

Ralph M. Evans and Lauren Evans' Diversify has emerged from his resounding 6 ½-length victory in Saturday's Grade 2, $700,000 Suburban at Belmont Park in good order, said trainer Rick Violette, Jr. on Sunday morning.

"He's great - tired but pretty cocky," he said. "He knows he won. He thinks he's the man - and he is."

In the 1 ¼-mile Suburban, Diversify led gate to wire through swift early fractions under pressure to record a sharp final time of 1:59.84 for a career-best 110 Beyer Speed Figure. The win also earned the 5-year-old New York-bred gelding by Bellamy Road membership into thoroughbred racing's exclusive millionaire club, boosting his lifetime earnings to $1,309,425.

"That was a spectacular race. He beat some really nice horses and didn't have it his own way," said Violette. "He was pressed quite a bit and even when there was some separation, it was because he was going really fast. It was pretty cool."

Diversify is expected to run once this summer at Saratoga Race Course, Violette said, most likely in the Grade 1, $750,000 Woodward Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on September 1. 

"He ran hard. The Whitney [Grade 1, $1.2 million on August 4] up there might be too close, it's four weeks," he said. "I was thinking it was five weeks, but even five weeks might be too soon with him. We'll nominate, but I have a feeling we'll end up waiting for the Woodward. I'll talk it over with the Evanses and we'll follow Diversify's lead.

"We'll just run him when and where he lets us run," he added. "We follow his lead and that seems to work. When you act prematurely and he doesn't give you his 'A' game, then you kind of take a step back and he rewards you for doing the right thing."

The Suburban was the third race of the year for Diversify, and his first graded stakes since finishing a disastrous seventh as the post-time favorite in the Grade 2 Charles Town Classic, his seasonal debut. Following that effort, Diversify's connections opted to move the gelding back against state-bred company in the one-mile Commentator on May 28, where he stumbled at the break but recovered quickly enough to win by a hard-fought nose.

Last year, Diversify won four of eight races, including an 11 ½-length score in the 1 1/8-mile Evan Shipman against New York-breds, the second of three straight wins in the summer and fall. He capped that win streak with a gutsy one-length victory in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup. 

"He ran off the screen last year at Saratoga [in the Evan Shipman]," said Violette. "The only more impressive race last summer was Gun Runner in the Whitney last year. But it was a monster race last year. Up until yesterday, that was probably his best race. Certainly, a mile and an eighth, a mile and a quarter is ideal. [The Woodward] is a great race. It's a historic race, and so is the Whitney; these are legacy races, they have incredible history behind them. [We won] the Gold Cup last year, now the Suburban, it'd be nice to knock out another one of those races. It's just very cool."