Grassy Rolls Home in Bowling Green
Grassy closed fastest of all on the
outside Saturday to win the 53rd running of the Grade 2, $150,000
Bowling Green Handicap, the opening-day feature of Belmont Park's 37-day
fall meet.
Running on the outside, not far off Sal the
Barber's slow fractions of 25.57, 51.65 and 1:18.07, the 5-year-old gray
son of El Prado moved up three-wide on the turn and then outsprinted
Center Divider and Bold Hawk to the wire to post a half-length victory.
Grassy's
time for the 1 3/8 miles over a turf course rated "good" was 2:19.69 as
he picked up his first victory of the year in five starts.
"We
all just kind of went around there and picked the pace up and after we
turned for home, we started sprinting," said winning jockey Garrett
Gomez. "Everybody sat chilly, everybody just stayed along where they
were at, everyone rode their horse like they were on the best horse, and
my horse came home better than anybody."
Sent off as
the 9-5 second choice by the crowd of 8,110, Grassy returned $5.60 for a
$2 win bet and earned $90,000 for Adele Dilschneider and Claiborne
Farm. Trained by Christophe Clement, Grassy is now 5-3-2 from 15
lifetime starts, including a victory in last year's Grade 2 Red Smith
Handicap at Aqueduct Racetrack.
This year, Grassy
finished fourth in an allowance at Keeneland in April, and then finished
second in both the Three Coins Up on the turf at Belmont Park and the
Grade 3 Spingspiel at Woodbine. In his most recent start prior to the
Bowling Green, he was fourth in the Grade 2 Sky Classic at Woodbine on
August 21.
Clement said the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf
Classic Invitational at Belmont Park on October 1 was among the
possibilities for the winner's next start. Last year, Grassy finished
third behind stablemate Winchester in the 1 ½-mile Turf Classic just
prior to his Red Smith win.
"I'm very happy with Grassy
because [owner] Mr. Hancock [of Claiborne Farm] has been very patient
and it is wonderful when owners give you that time and it works out,"
said Clement. "He was very impressive today and I hope we can go on to
better things."
Bold Hawk finished third, a neck behind
Center Divider, who was followed in turn by favored Sanagas,
Kindergarten Kid, Colonialism, and Sal the Barber.