BEAUGAY/FORT MARCY (G3) RECAP: Saturday, May 7, 2011

Saturday, May 7, 2011

 

 

DAVERON TAKES BEAUGAY; STRAIGHT STORY WIRES FORT MARCY

 

By Ashley Herriman

 

ELMONT, N.Y. – The Beaugay went to Daveron while Straight Story captured the Fort Marcy to settle a pair of Grade 3, $100,000 turf races Saturday afternoon at Belmont Park.

 

In the Beaugay, the sixth of ten races on the Belmont Park live card, Comic Marvel went right for the lead and set modest opening fractions of 25.12 and 49.87. Daveron, the 8-5 favorite, rated comfortably in third through three-quarters in 1:13.87, charged to the lead in the stretch and held off a late challenge from Gitchee Goomie to prevail by a neck.

 

Her final time for the 1 1/16 miles was 1:42.99 over the inner turf course rated “good.”

 

“I went to the outside to try to make her relax, to stay comfortable,” said winning rider Eddie Castro. “The pace was not really fast. At the three-eighths I started to ride her and she responded. She was moving well, and when the other filly came to her she didn’t quit.”

 

Adrian Rolls, assistant to winning trainer H. Graham Motion, credited Castro with a smart ride.

 

“Eddie gave her a very good ride,” said Rolls. “It was a small field and there was no speed, so I was afraid she might get a bit rank, but he managed to get her relaxed very quickly.”

 

Rolls said he was unsure where the 6-year-old daughter of Black Sam Bellamy might run next. Owned by Team Valor International, the German-bred mare now has a record of 5-3-1 from 14 starts with earnings of $217,642.

 

Daveron returned $5.50 for a $2 win wager to her Beaugay backers in the Belmont crowd of 11,051. Bet On the Blue completed the trifecta, followed by Ainamaa and Comic Marvel. Maram was scratched.

 

In the Fort Marcy, Straight Story, off since October, broke on top and set reasonable early fractions of 24.25 and 48.78 en route to a front-running neck score. 

 

“My instructions were to go to the front, and then let him relax and try to save some horse for the end, since he’s fresh,” said winning jockey Carlos Marquez, Jr. “He likes to run fresh. If you look at his form, when he gets a layoff, he runs big. They let me go the half in :48, and I think that made all the difference. When the outside horse came to him, that’s when he dragged me, he took me and said, ‘Whoa, from here, we gotta go.’ And when he saw the other horse inside, he kept digging, digging, digging, fighting. Class showed up.”

 

A New York-bred son of Giant’s Causeway, Straight Story stopped the clock at 1:41.84 for 1 1/16 miles over the Widener turf and returned $8.30 as the 3-1 third-choice. 

 

“He runs well fresh. He’s an honest horse and he is what he is,” trainer Alan Goldberg said by phone. “He caught a good race today, there wasn’t much pace in there and it set up for him. I don’t know what’s next, we’ll see how he comes out it, but the New York-bred races are always a good option.”

 

Straight Story has now earned $639,028 for owner Richard Santulli with a record of 6-6-0 from 18 starts. 

 

Favored Hudson Steele was second, Sal the Barber finished third, and Mikoshi and Riviera Cocktail completed the order of finish.  Beau Choix was scratched. 

 

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