ELMONT, NY – By the end of the 1 1/2-mile dirt marathon distance, Flying P Stable’s Lone Rock outlasted his rivals by 11 1/4 whopping lengths in Saturday’s $400,000 Brooklyn Stakes (G2) presented by Northwell Health.
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Breaking from post 9 under Ramon Vazquez (making his Belmont riding debut) as the 3/1 second choice, Lone Rock settled into the catbird seat just outside and behind Musical Heart, who posted fractions of :23.91, :47.85, 1:12.65, and 1:38.17 for the opening mile.
Advancing to the lead at the 5/16 pole, Lone Rock exited the far turn for the final time with the 5/2 favorite Tizamagician closely flanking his right hip, but Lone Rock straightened for home and re-broke with a sudden burst of energy that shot him clear of the field.
The Robertino Diodoro trainee completed the marathon fast dirt event in 2:28.97.
“When I saw the other horse that has a lot of speed (Tizamagician) stumble out of the gate, I just put my horse in the best position that I could,” Vazquez said. “I just waited until the end to ask my horse and you can see what happened. It feels awesome.”
Tizamagician, who turned his head and hopped at the start, recovered to finish second by a length in front of Moretti, while Campaign rallied for fourth by a pair of noses over You’re to Blame and Ry’s the Guy, respectively.
Ajaaweed, Rocketry, and Musical Heart completed the order of finish.
Lone Rock’s win was his first at the graded stakes ranks and improved his overall record to 33-11-3-2 with $748,921 earned lifetime. Diodoro’s magic touch has helped this horse improve mightily with each start since claiming him for $40k (for the second time) last November, saddling him to a 5-4-1-0 record since.
“He’s a horse that is just getting better,” Diodoro said. “We just have to keep him healthy and happy as long as we can. He loves his job. When you have a horse trying to run these distances, you need one who loves to train, and he definitely enjoys training.”
Lone Rock returned $8.90 to win, $4.60 to place, and $3.40 to show. Tizamagician brought back $4 to place and $3 to show. Moretti paid $4 to show.
