Black Stetson ($38.60) surprises in Bridgetown Stakes

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Though Black Stetson had run well on the dirt in the afternoon it was how he trained over that surface in the morning that concerned trainer Juan Carlos Guerrero.

“When he works in the morning he always comes back dying on me, like he doesn’t get a hold of the dirt, it takes too much out of him,” Guerrero said by phone from Parx Racing. “The [last] two times he ran here, he ran like a real good horse, but he comes back exhausted.”

So Guerrero and owner Marshall Grimm decided to experiment by putting Black Stetson on the turf.

The experiment worked as Black Stetson, hustled to the front under Junior Alvarado, held on for a half-length score over Nootka Sound to win Saturday’s $100,000 Bridgetown Stakes at Aqueduct.

Nootka Sound was second by a nose over Coltandmississippi. He was followed by Ambassador Jim, the 5-2 favorite, All Systems Go, Smooth B and Barbarossa. It was reported by the New York Racing Association afterward that Barbarossa had bled.

As a son of More Than Ready, Black Stetson certainly had turf breeding. Guerrero said that jockeys Kendrick Carmouche and Edwin Rivera, who had ridden the gelding on the dirt, said that he was a turf horse.

“We decided let’s take a chance, we got nothing to lose,” Guerrero said.

Guerrero had his groom tell Alvarado to put Black Stetson on the lead out of the gate. Though he broke fifth, Alvarado hustled Black Stetson to the front in an opening quarter in 22.03 seconds. He got some mild pressure from Smooth B, a 53-1 shot ridden by Paco Lopez, but Alvarado still felt he had horse underneath him turning for home.

Alvarado shook Black Stetson up in the lane and he was able to withstand Nootka Sound and Coltandmississippi.

Black Stetson covered the six furlongs in 1:07.84 and returned $38.60 as the second-longest shot on the board. Black Stetson was given a Beyer Speed Figure of 80.

“He broke good, then Paco came up next to me but I still hustled him to get to the lead,” Alvarado said. “When they saw I was going to go no matter what they kind of backed off a little bit and I was a little more comfortable the first part and he still had a little left at the end to fight on.”