Bank Frenzy noses Doc Sullivan in Alex M. Robb Stakes

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Bank Frenzy needed every inch of the sloppy Aqueduct stretch to run down a loose-on-the-lead Doc Sullivan and win the $100,000 Alex M. Robb Stakes for New York-breds by a nose.

It was the sixth win from 14 starts for Bank Frenzy and his second from five starts since being purchased privately in the spring by the Sarf family’s LSU Stables and turned over to trainer Rudy Rodriguez. The win also kept Bank Frenzy perfect (4 for 4) over wet tracks.

The 126-pound highweight ridden by Manny Franco, Bank Frenzy set up shop outside of El Grande O with both chasing Doc Sullivan who, under Jose Lezcano, was two lengths clear after running a half-mile in 45.60 seconds.

Bank Frenzy and El Grande O moved in tandem after Doc Sullivan turning for home. Doc Sullivan continued on, El Grande O stalled and Bank Frenzy was gaining gradually. It wasn’t until the final two jumps that Bank Frenzy got his nose on the wire.

“Sometimes he doesn’t break, but today he broke with the field so I took advantage of that,” Franco said. “I put him right next to [El Grande O] but the one on the lead, he was tough to go by, you got to give credit to that horse, too. My horse was giving me all he had and I just got it right at the wire.”

Bank Frenzy, a 4-year-old gelding by Central Banker, covered the mile over a sloppy track in 1:36.81 and returned $4.70 as the favorite.

Lezcano, riding Doc Sullivan for the first time, said his horse started to “zig-zag” in the stretch.

“That’s why he got beat,” Lezcano said. “It’s his mind, I think. I watched replays and he did it before, he takes a step out and a step in.”

Doc Sullivan finished 4 1/2 lengths clear of third-place finisher Sheriff Bianco. Whittington Park, Colloquy, El Grande O and Olympic Dreams completed the order of finish.

El Grande O, a two-time New York-bred stakes winner at 2 who placed in multiple stakes here last winter, was coming in off two allowance wins. Trainer Linda Rice said jockey Dylan Davis told her El Grande O wasn’t handling the track.

“Me, I wonder if no Lasix was an issue,’’ said Rice, noting that horses can race on the anti-bleeding medication in allowance races but not in stakes.

Randy Sarf, part of LSU Stable along with his father Larry, said he would like to try Bank Frenzy against open stakes company in the near future.

“I think he can run with the big boys,” Sarf said. “We’re going to try the next level - Grade 2 or Grade 3. Hopefully, we’ll stay here and find a race, if not, we’ll take a ride somewhere.”

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