Geaux Rocket Ride wins, makes Mandella 2-for-2 in Haskell

Oceanport, N.J.

Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella seldom sends horses from his Southern California home base to race at Monmouth Park. On Saturday he did it and won the Grade 1 Haskell Stakes with the lightly raced 3-year-old Geaux Rocket Ride.

The last time Mandella sent a horse to the Haskell was in 2000, and he won with Dixie Union. Twenty-three years later he won the $1 million race again, and that improved his lifetime record at Monmouth to four wins from seven starts.

Fellow Hall of Famer Mike Smith rode Geaux Rocket Ride for the first time in what was only the fourth start of the horse’s career. With the victory, Smith set the record for jockeys with his fourth trip to the Haskell winner’s circle. He won in 1994 with Holy Bull, 1998 with Coronado’s Quest and then Authentic won in 2020.

“I found out three weeks ago that I was going to get the opportunity to ride this horse,” Smith explained. “My agent called me when he was in New York, so it was early in California, and I flipped out of my bed I was so excited.”

Geaux Rocket Ride broke alertly from post position 1, was able to move from the rail to the outside approaching the first turn and settled in a stalking position in third behind the long shot Awesome Strong and the Bob Baffert trainee Arabian Knight, who was the even-money favorite. Those two set the early fractions for the first half-mile in 22.80 and 47.11 seconds.

“I was really happy that the 2 (Awesome Strong) was there with him (Arabian Knight),” Smith described. “I was glad someone else did my work and I was able just to tip out and just relax.”

The son of Candy Ride, who sold for $350,000 as a yearling, began to move up on the pacesetters while racing three wide entering the final turn. He caught up with the leader Arabian Knight and they dueled briefly at the top of the stretch, but the Mandella runner was able to easily extend his lead.

“The horse has good natural speed, and we realized that the Baffert horse on the outside was fast and planning to go to the lead and we thought we would just let him run out there a little bit,” Mandella described the winning trip. “He settled so nicely in his last race (winning the Affirmed at Santa Anita last month) that we'd let that happen again unless everybody took back, but they didn't take back, so we did.”

The Kentucky Derby winner Mage provided a final challenge when he made a wide, late rally from the back of the pack to pass Arabian Knight and finish second. Arabian Knight faded to third, Extra Añejo (8-1) was fourth and Tapit Trice (9-2) fifth in the field of eight.

When Mandella was asked if he was concerned about the final challenge from the Mage, he replied, “I was confident all the way.”

Geaux Rocket Ride crossed the finish line 1 3/4 lengths in front with a winning time of 1:49.52. He paid $27.40, $9.40 and $4.80, Mage returned $4.80 and $3.00, and Arabian Knight paid $2.80.

With the win, Geaux Rocket Ride ran his record to 4: 3-1-0 and earned a win-and-you’re-in spot for the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 4 at Santa Anita.

For now, Mandella and Geaux Rocket Ride will head back to California.

“We're going to enjoy the plane ride home tonight,” Mandella said, “and we'll be making plans as the horse tells us.”