Bleecker Street storms home to remain unbeaten in New York Stakes
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Chad Brown has a deep roster of graded stakes-winning older turf fillies and mares. He only has one who’s unbeaten.
Bleecker Street, in her first start in a Grade 1 stakes and facing three of her own stablemates, rallied from last under Irad Ortiz Jr. to win Friday’s $750,000 New York Stakes at Belmont Park by a half-length over Family Way, who was a neck ahead of Flighty Lady. It was another neck to Virginia Joy in fourth and a length to favored Rougir as Brown runners finished 1-3-4-5 in the seven-horse field.
Core Values and Lovely Lucky completed the order of finish.
Bleecker Street improved her record to 7 for 7, adding the New York to previous stakes wins in the Grade 3 Endeavour and Grade 2 Hillsborough at Tampa Bay Downs as well as the Grade 3 Modesty at Churchill Downs.
“In this division, 7 for 7 is really, really tough,” said Peter Brant, who teamed with Brown to run four of the seven horses in the New York. “She didn’t start running until the latter part of her 3-year-old year, so she’s always running against horses who have more experience than she does.”
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Bleecker Street, named after a popular street in SoHo, New York, was considered the second-best of the four Brown-trained, Brant-owned runners in Friday’s New York. The French-bred Rougir, a Group 1 winner in France last year and winner of the Grade 3 Beugay last month, was the one the bettors fancied.
But Rougir, according to jockey Flavien Prat, was not as effective over firm ground as she had been over softer turf and didn’t fire.
Flighty Lady, put in the race by Brant and Brown to serve as a pacesetter in the New York, only set fractions of 24.54 seconds for the quarter, 50.76 for the half, and 1:16.48 for six furlongs under Eric Cancel. Bleecker Street was last of the seven runners, seven lengths back after the opening half.
Tyler Gaffalione had Family Way in a stalking position and took over from Flighty Lady just before the eighth pole.
Meanwhile, Ortiz was able to save ground down the backside and then tipped Bleecker Street five wide turning for home. When Ortiz asked his filly to run, she responded with a strong kick, getting past Family Way in the final 40 yards.
“Slow pace, slow fractions, and I make a wide move,” said Ortiz, who was riding Bleecker Steet for the first time. “I had to wait and go around and still got there. She gave me a good kick.”
Bleecker Street, a daughter of Quality Road, covered the 1 1/4 miles in 2:02.58 and returned $7.70 to win. Bleecker Street earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 96.
“Even with a slowish pace and some horses trying to back [her] up in the middle of the pack, she still was good enough to overcome it and get there,” Brown said. “She’s a remarkable horse.
“From where she started to where she came from, it’s a great story,” Brown added. “She’s moving up the ranks as one of the better ones I’ve had really.”
Brown, who has won the New York four times since 2016, said Rougir didn’t really have an excuse for her fifth-place performance.
Brendan Walsh, trainer of Family Way, had mixed emotions about his mare’s performance.
“She ran super; you’re disappointed, but you’re not,” Walsh said. “We would have settled for it before the race and in the end she nearly managed to pull it off. She’s improved all year and today was a legit run. She showed now she can mix in with the very best of them.”