Break Even wins Jersey Girl Stakes to stay perfect

ELMONT, N.Y. – Despite a stumble at the start, Break Even remained undefeated with a three-quarter-length victory over a closing Sue’s Fortune in Sunday’s $150,000 Jersey Girl Stakes at Belmont Park.

It was 5 3/4 lengths back to Miss Imperial. Moonlight Romance was fourth. Bingwa scratched.

The win was the fifth in as many starts – and the third consecutive stakes score – for Break Even, a 3-year-old daughter of Country Day owned by Klein Racing and trained by Brad Cox.

The race was designed to be a prep for the Grade 1 Test at Saratoga on Aug. 3, when she will most likely meet her stablemate Covfefe, who is scheduled to use the Roxelena Stakes at Churchill Downs on June 22 as her prep.

Break Even had been dominant in her first four starts, including the Grade 2 Eight Belles, which she won by 5 1/2 lengths on May 3.

On Sunday, she stumbled under Shaun Bridgmohan, quickly recovered and made a clear lead while running an opening quarter in 22.06 seconds. She maintained a clear advantage through a half-mile in 44.63 seconds. Break Even had a three-length lead with a furlong to go, but Sue’s Fortune was rallying while Break Even was easing up near the wire.

“Usually, she stands up and leaves there when I’m just trying to slow her down,” Bridgmohan said. “Today, when she got off a little slow, I had to go, ‘Come on, mama, you need to get it together quickly.’ ”

Break Even covered the six furlongs in 1:09.20 and returned $2.40 to win.

“She ran well. It looked like she may have stumbled just a touch coming out of there, but she recovered quickly. He had to stay after her to get there, but it was a positive race,” Cox said. “Hopefully, it’s a building block to the Test. That’s the goal this summer.”