Annapolis shakes off trouble, conquers Manila
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ELMONT, N.Y. -- Coming to the quarter pole of Monday’s $100,000 Manila Stakes, heavily favored Annapolis had three horses in front of him and a horse on either side.
“Going to the quarter pole, my horse was ready to go but I had nowhere to go,” jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. said.
Straightening away in the lane, Ortiz found the necessary room, rallying four wide, overtook stablemate Chanceux at the eighth pole, and drew off to a convincing 2 3/4-length victory in the Manila at Belmont Park.
Double Clutch, coming off a maiden victory in April, rallied from last to get second by a half-length over Ready to Purrform. Chanceux finished fourth, followed, in order by Boston Tea Party, Coinage, and Smokin’ T.
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The win was the third from four career starts for Annapolis, a son of War Front owned by Bass Racing and trained by Todd Pletcher. It enabled Annapolis to rebound from a second-place finish to 80-1 Wow Whata Summer in the Grade 2 Penn Mile, a race run over an extremely soft turf course.
It was that result that prompted Pletcher to choose Monday’s Manila Stakes over Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Derby Invitational.
“We felt like doing that off one start might be a little too much.” Pletcher said. “Figured we’d try this, hopefully get this under his belt and set us up for Saratoga.”
Annapolis certainly relished the firm turf at Belmont as he ran a mile in 1:32.81 and returned $3.30 as the 3-5 favorite.
Pletcher will now point Annapolis to the Grade 1, $1 million Saratoga Derby Invitational going 1 3/16 miles at Saratoga.
The victory by Annapolis capped a three-day weekend in which Pletcher won eight races at Belmont Park -- including four stakes -- and 10 wins and five stakes overall when results from Monmouth Park are added in.
“We’ve had a great weekend. It’s been a lot of fun for the whole team, a lot of people putting in a lot of work for it,” Pletcher said.
The win was the third on the card for Ortiz, who was marking his first day back after serving a five-day suspension stemming from a riding incident at the Royal Ascot meet in mid-June.
Ortiz trails Dylan Davis, 45-42, in the race for leading rider at this meet.
* Trainer Chad Brown set a Belmont Park spring/summer meet with his 45th win when the 3-year-old filly Demandsrespect won a maiden race on the dirt. Brown’s 45th win came on Day 41 of a 44-day meet. He eclipsed David Jacobson’s 44 wins, accomplished at a 56-day meet in 2013.