Le Grand Cru Upsets Westchester
H. Allen Jerkens has pulled off an upset or two in his Hall of Fame career, and Friday’s Opening Day at Belmont Park was no exception as he sent out 27-1 Le Grand Cru to capture the 82nd running of the Grade 3, $100,000 Westchester, the trainer’s sixth victory in the race.
Jerkens, whose first victory in the Westchester came in 1975 with Step Nicely, also saddled Fabulous Find (1982), Singh Tu (1983), Virginia Rapids (1994) and Wagon Limit (1998) to win the one-mile race.
“I didn’t think he was that big a long shot,” said Jerkens of Le Grand Cru, who won the Grade 3 Kelso Handicap at Belmont Park last October but who was winless in four starts at Gulfstream Park this year. “I don’t know why he didn’t run so well in Florida, but we gave him a rest and he had a couple of real nice works, just great.”
Ridden by Cornelio Velasquez, the 5-year-old son of Dynaformer broke sharply, then settled down to stay just off early fractions of 23.34, 46.15 and 1:09.52 set by Ironman Jon. Moving up on the turn to challenge the pacesetter, Le Grand Cru took command in mid-stretch and pulled clear to hit the wire in 1:34.89 over the fast track.
“My horse broke on the lead and stayed in a good position,” said Velasquez. “He relaxed, didn’t fight. Ramon Dominguez had a lot of horse (aboard Ironman Jon), but my horse ran a big one. He likes it here at Belmont Park.”
Coming on late for second, 2 ¼ lengths back, was Convocation, trained by Jerkens’ son, Jimmy, and holding on for third, a head back, was Ironman Jon, trained by former Jerkens’ assistant Mike Hushion.
“Well, if we had to get beat, at least we got beat by the Chief,” said Jimmy Jerkens with a smile.
Le Grand Cru, now 5-3-2 from 18 lifetime starts, returned $56.50 for a $2 win bet to his backers in the crowd of 5,765 as Belmont Park kicked off its 59-day Spring/Summer Meet. With the winner’s purse of $60,000, he has now earned $433,578 for Judson Streicher.
“We’ll enjoy this one and see how he comes out of it,” said Jerkens. “But, of course, we will look at the [Grade 1, $500,000] Met Mile [May 31] - do we ever stay home when we should?”
Finishing fourth was Honest Man, who in turn was followed by favored Bribon, the 2009 Westchester winner, Past the Point, More Than a Reason, and Giant Moon.