Joking Pulls Off Thrilling Upset in Diablo

Heading into the $100,000 Diablo Stakes at Belmont Park, owner and trainer Charlton Baker was so impressed with the way 7-year-old Joking was training, he entered him in the race despite never having made a start against stakes level competition. On Sunday afternoon, Baker's decision was handsomely rewarded, as Joking bested even-money favorite Ready for Rye to pull off a thrilling upset.

Leaving from post position 2 at longshot odds of 16-1 with Manny Franco in the irons, Joking broke last and comfortably tracked the field of seven as El Deal set honest fractions of 22.12, 45.11, and 57.08 seconds. 

At the quarter-pole, Franco tipped Joking out to move six-wide down the center of the track. Taking aim on Ready for Rye, who took over in mid-stretch, wore down the favorite in the final jumps to win by three-quarters of a length.

He completed the six furlongs in a winning time of 1:09.44.

"I was feeling really good about our chances heading into the race," said Baker. "he was training as good as he possibly could. I thought he might be outclassed a little bit in this spot but remained confident in how well he was training."

Returning $34.40 for a $2 win wager, Joking earned his second victory of the year and first stakes win of his career to boost his lifetime earnings to $498,638.

"It's the perfect distance for him," said Franco. "Charlie told me to make a move when I thought I was the right point to do it and that's what I did. When Ready for Rye moved in the three-eighths pole, I had the chance to go outside of him. He likes running on the outside."

"His style is to come off the pace and we didn't want to change anything coming in," added Baker. "I knew there was enough speed in the race where we figured it was going to set up for him."