Bavaro brushes off shaky start to win Hollie Hughes Stakes

Bavaro is fast, but after a less-than-perfect start in the $100,000 Hollie Hughes Stakes at Aqueduct on Monday, he found himself several lengths off the pace in fourth. Apparently not happy with his position, Bavaro went after the front-runners before reaching the far turn of the six-furlong race, and the result was a one-length victory.

Bavaro bobbled at the start of the Hollie Hughes and then brushed with Bluegrass Express to his outside. Tribecca, meanwhile, went to an open lead while being stalked by Eye Luv Lulu.

Jockey Junior Alvarado didn’t rush Bavaro, but the 5-year-old was eager to go and launched an early move. He ran by Eye Luv Lulu nearing the far turn and then took the lead outside Tribecca before reaching the quarter pole.

Bavaro and Alvarado opened up a clear advantage in upper stretch, then had enough left to withstand the strong but belated bid of Celtic Chaos, who was up to take second by three-quarters of a length from Eye Luv Lulu. It was another 1 1/4 lengths back to Tribecca in fourth.

"We were hoping to go to the lead," Alvarado said. "He kind of missed the break a little bit there, so I had to go Plan B. I let him settle in and put him on the outside. After that, from the half-mile pole, he pretty much took me all the way around."

Sent off as the favorite in the scratch-reduced field of six older New York-breds, Bavaro paid $4.90. He was timed in 1:11.78 following fractions of 22.65, 46.22, and 58.47.

Bavaro was making his first start for trainer Linda Rice, who claimed him Jan. 11 for $25,000 out of his second straight daylight victory at that level for Jeremiah Englehart.

"I was pretty excited about running him here off the claim," Rice said. "He didn't break that sharp today, but Junior rode him beautifully. This was the first stakes win for All In The Family Racing, so I'm very happy for them as well."

A son of Freud, Bavaro improved his record to nine wins from 20 starts. The Hollie Hughes is his second stakes win. He won the Great White Way division of the New York Stallion Stakes as a 2-year-old in December 2016.

A field of 10 was entered in the Hollie Hughes but Honor Up and Syndergaard opted to run in the statebred Haynesfield Stakes going a mile Sunday. Honor up won that race by a nose over Syndergaard.

Morning-line favorite Build to Suit and Runaway Lute were scratched Monday morning.