Uncle Benny Clears Aways in Allied Forces

ELMONT, NY – Beach Haven Thoroughbreds’ Uncle Benny returned to the site of his last victory and put on a repeat performance, clearing away strongly to win Sunday’s $100,000 Allied Forces Stakes at Belmont Park.

Breaking well from post 2 under Manny Franco as the 7/5 favorite, Uncle Benny soon dropped off of the early pace while tucking inside. Up front, Mucho set fractions of :22.50 and :45.29 while Elektronik gave closest chase on his outside.

Racing in mid-pack as the field rounded the far turn. Uncle Benny swung out to the five-path near the top of the stretch. Closing strongly along the outside, Uncle Benny shot to the front inside the 1/8 pole before winning by 2 lengths. The Jason Servis trainee completed the 6-furlong sprint over the firm turf course in a final time of 1:08.57.

Chilly in Charge, who at 34/1 was the longest shot on the board, rallied from the rear to nose out Pulsate for second. Elektronik weakened late to finish fourth ahead of Neverland Rock, who necked out a spent Mucho for fifth.

Readyforprimetime and Achilles Warrior played a factor before completing the order of finish. Releasethethunder was a Main Track Only entry. No Bang No Boom broke through the barrier prematurely and dumped his jockey before an outrider corralled him. As such, he was a late scratch.

Uncle Benny’s win was his first since taking the Futurity Stakes here last October and improved his record to 5-3-1-0 with $330,100 earned. The 3-year-old son of Declaration of War ended 2018 with a second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (G1) but was a well-beaten seventh in his lone 2019 start.

“I wanted to make sure that he broke well,” Franco said. “The last three times, he broke slow. After the break, I just settled back and didn’t change anything. He was there for me the whole way. I had a lot of horse at the end.”

Uncle Benny returned $4.20 to win, $3.70 to place, and $3.10 to show. Chilly in Charge brought back $20 to place and $7 to show, while Pulsate paid $4.90 to show.