Belmont Park: Redeemed romps by 10 lengths in Brooklyn Handicap

ELMONT, N.Y. - Redeemed opened up a new door for his connections by cruising to a 10-length victory under Ramon Dominguez in Friday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Brooklyn Handicap at Belmont Park.

Eldaafer, the 2009 Brooklyn winner, finished second by two lengths over Arthur’s Tale.

The victory was the seventh from 11 starts for Redeemed, a 4-year-old son of Include owned by Samantha Siegel’s Jay Em Ess Stable and trained by Richard Dutrow Jr.

Dutrow entered Redeemed in the Brooklyn, at a mile and a half, in part because he didn’t think the horse could be competitive with the upper echelon of handicap horses at distances up to 1 1/8 miles.

But now Redeemed may have put himself into contention for a race like the Breeders’ Cup Marathon later this year with his dominant score.

“I’ll have a talk with Ramon and see if he wants to go this far all the time,” Dutrow said. “We’ll get the numbers, check things out, but we have a live horse, that’s for sure.”

Breaking from post 10, Redeemed made the lead soon after the start, running an opening quarter in 23.94 seconds. Redeemed may have been helped by the fact that Birdrun, last year’s Brooklyn winner and a horse with good early speed, stumbled at the start.

Redeemed continued uncontested through a half-mile in 48.12, six furlongs in 1:12.42, and a mile in 1:37.18.

Eldaafer, under Paco Lopez, moved into contention around the far turn, but Redeemed kicked away turning for home and ran away from him inside the final three-sixteenths.

Redeemed covered the 1 1-2 miles in 2:28.89 and returned $6.50 as the 2-1 favorite. Redeemed added the Brooklyn to victories in the Grade 3 Discovery and Oklahoma Derby last year.

“He relaxed beautifully for me, and when it was time to go turning for home he responded beautifully and galloped out strong,” Dominguez said. “I wasn’t overly confident because you don’t know about the distance with any of them. We don’t run these distances daily, but I couldn’t be any happier with how well he relaxed for me.”

Following Arthur’s Tale, the order of finish was Not Abroad, Hailstone, Praetereo, Boxeur des Rues, Golden Gulch, Birdrun, Eye On Jacob and Kentucky Reign.