Navy Commander considered for Haskell off Long Branch win

Rushed from the gate in Saturday’s $100,000 Long Branch Stakes at Monmouth Park, Navy Commander made it look easy from there, leading every step of the way to earn a spot in the $1 million Haskell Invitational on July 29.

Trainer Butch Reid, who also conditioned sire Poseidon’s Warrior, said he hasn’t looked beyond the Long Branch, which marked Navy Commander’s first stakes victory.

"It’s a great compliment to be invited to the Haskell Invitational off this," Reid said. "We have to see if we think we’ll be competitive. We don’t enter races just for the sake of running in races. But it’s always a prestigious race and something you have to think about long and hard if you’re invited to it. You only get so many shots in a horse’s career and a 3-year-old horse’s career and sometimes you have to step out of your comfort zone and take a chance.”

Good Magic remains on target for the race, while D. Wayne Lukas is considering the Haskell and the July 28 Jim Dandy, a Grade 2 race at Saratoga, for Bravazo. My Boy Jack may also return to dirt coming out of Saturday’s Grade 1 Belmont Derby Invitational.

Navy Commander clicked through an opening quarter mile Saturday in 25.79 seconds and change, waltzed through the half in 51.57 and arrived at the top of the stretch still leading. All that was left from there was holding off an outside bid from 2-1 favorite American Lincoln.

Navy Commander went on to score at odds of 5-2 in the field of five.

“It was a very nice spot. I liked the post position, and I saw there wasn’t a lot of speed in the race,” Reid said. “The jock and I discussed it beforehand — if he could make a nice, easy lead, I think we’ll be very tough in the race.”

Under Angel Arroyo, the final time for 1 1/16 miles was 1:46.66.

“My horse broke really good," Arroyo said. "He went to the front easily and I knew down the backside that we weren’t going that fast and that I had a lot of horse. I just had to be patient with him and keep him relaxed. He had a lot left in the stretch when I needed it from him. Those slow fractions helped but he was very strong at the end, too.”

A June 12 allowance win at Parx Racing set up Navy Commander for the Long Branch. Before that, he ran sixth in the slop on the Preakness Stakes’ undercard in the Sir Barton and has also competed this year at Charles Town and Penn National. Well-traveled, the Swilcan Stables homebred has won five of 11 starts.

Supreme Aura had been mentioned for the Haskell out of his win in Monmouth’s Pegasus Stakes, but he failed to fire in the Long Branch.