Big Invasion surges late in Paradise Creek Stakes
ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer Christophe Clement said choosing to run Big Invasion in Sunday’s $100,000 Paradise Creek Stakes was not so much a distance experiment as it was a race of convenience. Either way, Big Invasion showed that he may not be distance-limited by powering his way to a 3 1/4-length victory in the seven-furlong stakes race for 3-year-olds over Belmont Park’s turf course.
Asymmetric, who set an ambitious early pace under Irad Ortiz Jr., held second by a half-length over Chanceux. High Front was fourth, followed by Carpe’s Dream and Maritime Wings.
The win was the fourth straight and third consecutive stakes victory for Big Invasion, a son of Declaration of War owned by Reeves Thoroughbred Racing. His three previous wins came at five and 5 1/2 furlongs. This was his first start at seven.
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“I wasn’t sure about the distance, but he stayed seven-eighths,” Clement said. “I guess the next step is to go a mile, I don’t think we have to do that now.”
But it’s nice to have options.
In his three previous wins, Big Invasion was never more than two lengths off the pace at any point of call. In the Paradise Creek, Big Invasion found himself nine lengths behind Asymmetric, who rolled to a six-length advantage after running an opening quarter in 21.87 seconds. Big Invasion, fourth under Joel Rosario was within four lengths after a half-mile in 45.01 seconds with Chanceux and High Front chasing Asymmetric.
At the top of the lane, Rosario swung Big Invasion four-wide and he was able to run by Asymmetric above the sixteenth pole and draw clear late.
“He was really good,” Rosario said. “He relaxed today nicely and came with a run at the end. That was impressive.”
Big Invasion covered the seven furlongs over firm ground in 1:20.34 and returned $4.60 as the 6-5 favorite.
Clement said his next race of choice for Big Invasion would be the Grade 3, $175,000 Quick Call Stakes going 5 1/2 furlongs at Saratoga on July 17.
“He’s got a lot of speed, I think it’d be a bit foolish to take all the speed away,” Clement said. “I did seven-eighths today because the stakes was here at Belmont Park. I think we’ll keep him sprinting this year, maybe we stretch him sometime next year.”
Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. said Asymmetric was going fast early but was doing it on his own.
“The track is fast, but he was going a little fast, I tried to slow him down as much as I can, keep him relaxed at the same time,” Ortiz said. “He ran good but he got run down by a nice horse.”