McLaughlin Wins With Pair of First Timers at Belmont
While Kiaran McLaughlin's biggest win of the month came with Grade 1 Twinspires.com Wood Memorial winner Frosted in last weekend's Pennsylvania Derby, the trainer proved that his local hot streak is alive and well, saddling a pair of first-time starters, Marking and Trappe Play, to victory on Wednesday's card at Belmont Park.
Marking, a 3-year-old Bernardini colt McLaughlin trains for Godolphin Racing, had missed his scheduled debut when he acted up in the Saratoga starting gate and was scratched on August 21. In the four weeks since, Marking had been subjected to a patient, and seemingly successful, schooling regimen.
"We had gate issues for a month or two but we thought we were OK to run when we had him up there," McLaughlin said about the race at Saratoga. "He just reared up at the last minute and then sat down and had to be scratched. So then after that, we took him to Bob Duncan at the Oklahoma track and he worked with him every day, so he got him over his fears."
McLaughlin's patience appeared to pay off on Wednesday, as Marking easily swept past his maiden special weight competition to win the third race by 2 ¾ lengths.
"He didn't break great, but it didn't matter. It's just getting him in [the gate] to get him out of there," said McLaughlin. "He's that talented. So it was a great win. He's never been outworked, that's why he was 4-5. He's a really nice horse."
Two races later, the New York-bred Trappe Play posted the same margin of victory against state-breds. Largely overlooked in the win pool at odds of 13-1, Trappe Play is a 2-year-old daughter of 2011 Grade 2 True North winner Trappe Shot and 2010 Only Queens runner-up Play With Me owned and bred by NYKY Thoroughbreds.
"We had her mother and her father, so that was neat," McLaughlin said. "We're really happy she ran so well. We'll probably run her back in a stakes for New York-breds on October 24th."
Marking, meanwhile, will target an allowance race likely at the beginning of the Aqueduct meet this fall, McLaughlin said.
McLaughlin, who finished sixth in the trainer's standings at Saratoga with 13 wins from 54 starters, has fired at a 44 percent clip since the beginning of the fall meet, picking up four wins from only nine starters, including first-out winner, the $2.2 million yearling purchase Mohaymen, as well as the Grade 2 Sands Point with Sentiero Italia on opening weekend.
Bob Le Beau split rivals in midstretch and held off a late challenge from Hinterland to win Thursday's $150,000 Lonesome Glory Steeplechase by a half-length and notch his second straight Grade 1 victory.
Trained by Elizabeth Voss for The Fields Stable, Bob Le Beau was content to run second-to-last as Syros opened up a big early lead in the 2 ½-mile race over national fences. Given his cue from jockey Jack Doyle as the field of eight straightened for home, Bob Le Beau responded with a solid closing kick to gain the lead with 100 yards to and had just enough left to fend off the runner-up.
His winning time was 4:41.27 for the course, which was run minus the final two jumps and with the stretch drive consisting of a flat run in its entirety.
"Getting him to settle was my biggest concern but he conserved good energy today," said winning jockey Jack Doyle. "He has so much speed coming off the flat, all he needs is half a gap and he'd be gone. Two jumps out in the straight probably helped me more than it helped anyone else because I could use his flat speed a little more, but I think he would've won even if they were there."
Sent off as the 3-5 favorite following his 7 ¼-length win in the New York Turf Writers' Cup on August 27 at Saratoga Race Course, Bob Le Beau returned $3.50 for a $2 win bet. The victory was the 8-year-old gelding's fourth in five starts this year, including a win in the Grade 3 National Hunt Cup in May, and was worth $90,000, boosting his career bankroll to $523,457.
Checking in third was Dawalan, who was followed across the finish line by Charmister, All Together, Syros, Diplomat and Alajmal.
In the afternoon's first race, Woodslane Farm's Overwhelming kicked into high gear rounding the turn to take command a furlong out and go on to a 2 ½-length victory in the $75,000William Entenmann Memorial. It was the first stakes victory over fences for the Phipps Stable-bred son of Hard Spun, who won an allowance in July at Saratoga.
Trained by Jack Fisher and ridden by Sean McDermott, the 5-year-old gelding returned $14.40 for a $2 win bet.
Source: NYRA Communications