Blue Prize by a neck in Top Flight Invitational

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Sitting second aboard Blue Prize, about 1 1/2 lengths behind Frost Wise, for the opening six furlongs of the $200,000 Top Flight Invitational at Aqueduct, jockey Jose Ortiz felt confident about his chances to catch the front-runner.

But when he started to ask his filly for run approaching the stretch, Ortiz grew concerned.

“I thought I had a better horse, but at the quarter pole, I was a little concerned. I couldn’t pick up my [filly’s] feet,” Ortiz said. “I tried to go and get closer but couldn’t.”

Approaching the eighth pole, however, Ortiz thought he saw Frost Wise starting to shorten stride. He kept persevering on Blue Prize, who was able to collar Frost Wise in the shadow of the wire to win the Top Flight by a neck. It was 1 1/2 lengths farther back to Verve’s Tale, the 4-5 favorite, in third.

“When we passed the eighth pole, I see [Frost Wise] stopping a little bit,” Ortiz said. “My filly kept going. She never picked it up really, just steady, steady; never gave me a turn of foot.”

Blue Prize gave Ortiz just enough Sunday to gain her fourth victory from 12 career starts. She had won the Grade 2 Falls City Handicap at Churchill last November, but in her 5-year-old debut, she finished seventh in the Grade 2 Azeri, a 1 1/16-mile race at Oaklawn Park.

Ignacio Correas IV, the trainer of Blue Prize, said the extra distance of the Top Flight and having a race under her belt aided his filly’s cause.

“I think she’s gaining back her form, so that’s good after a very disappointing effort at Oaklawn,” Correas said from Kentucky. “She has matured a lot.”

Blue Prize, a 5-year-old Argentine-bred daughter of Pure Prize owned by Merriebelle Stable, covered the 1 1/8 miles in 1:51.48 and returned $4.90 as the 7-5 second choice.

Correas said Blue Prize would van back to his base at Keeneland and is a candidate for the Grade 3, $150,000 Allaire duPont Distaff at Pimlico on May 18 at 1 1/8 miles.

“She needs at least a mile and an eighth,” Correas said.

Frost Wise had won the Bay Ridge for New York-breds at 1 1/8 miles back in January as the 7-5 favorite. After a second and third in a pair of one-turn-mile stakes, Frost Wise nearly stole the Top Flight on the front end under Kendrick Carmouche.

“She ran the way we thought she would,” Carmouche said. “She broke really good, she ran all the way around there, and just got beat. Couldn’t change anything.”

Verve’s Tale, who had beaten Blue Prize by a nose in the Summer Colony at Saratoga last summer, had a bit of a wide trip and made only a mild bid in the lane under Irad Ortiz Jr., who was riding the mare for the first time.

“They told me she doesn’t like the stick too much, but every time I hit her, she gave me something,” Ortiz said. “She just got beat.”

Verve’s Tale finished 11 1/4 lengths ahead of Crimson Frost, who was followed by Miss Inclusive and Just Got Out.