Friday, July 20, 2012
By Jenny Kellner
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Pacific Ocean grabbed the lead coming out of the gate and never looked back as he rolled to a 1 ¾-length victory over Golddigger’s Boy in Friday’s Grade 3, $100,000 James Marvin, the first stakes race as Saratoga Race Course opened its 40-day meet.
Ridden by Joel Rosario, the 5-year-old gelded son of Ghostzapper promptly opened up by two lengths and he cruised through an opening quarter-mile in 23.19 seconds, with the half going in 46.67. After shaking off a threat from Crossbow straightening for home,
Crossbow held for third, with 4-5 favorite Jackson Bend finishing fourth after a wide trip.
“That was perfect,” said Rosario, who earned his first stakes score at Saratoga since piloting Blind Luck to win the Grade 1 Alabama in 2010. “I just tried to relax him as much as I could early, and hoped nobody put on any pressure, and that’s exactly what happened.”
The James Marvin was the second start on dirt for the lightly raced Pacific Ocean, who finished sixth in the Grade 2 True North Handicap at
“I told a lot of people that called me … he was training so much better for this race than he was for his last race,” said Rick Dutrow, Jr., who took over Pacific Ocean’s training this year. “In his last race, he had a bad post, there was a lot of speed, he was in a bad spot. Today was different. He had everything going his way. He was sitting on a race. He ran big.”
Sent off at 6-1,
Dutrow said the next logical spot for Pacific Ocean would be the Grade 1, $500,000 Forego at
“I have to see how things are and go from there,” he said. “Naturally, the race at the end of the meet here [Forego] makes sense. It’s a big race and he likes this track.”
Jackson Bend, who won last year’s James Marvin en route to his first Grade 1 win in the Forego, was three-quarters of a length clear of Caixa Eletronica, with Scotus finishing last.
“We couldn’t get the trip,” said his Hall of Fame trainer, Nick Zito. “Rosie [Napravnik] was trying to get inside but couldn’t get there. That’s what he wants to do – run inside. It’s frustrating because he was running in the end.”
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