Caribou Club surges in Henry S. Clark Stakes

Caribou Club returned to the scene of his only previous stakes win, the Laurel Park turf course, and won the $100,000 Henry S. Clark Stakes under a textbook ride from Paco Lopez on Saturday.

Sixth while clamped to the fence around the first turn, down the backstretch, and past the three-furlong pole, Caribou Club, always traveling nicely, was tipped off the rail before the quarter pole, Lopez waiting for fading pacesetters to drop away before moving inside Phlash Phelps and on to a three-quarters-length victory.

Doctor Mounty, who broke from post 12, rallied late and outside to get second, a length in front of third-place Phlash Phelps. Ring Weekend, the 8-5 favorite, lost a lot of ground on the far turn, but even accounting for that ran below form to finish seventh.

Caribou Club won the Laurel Futurity over 5 1/2 furlongs on grass while still a 2-year-old maiden in September 2016. Last year, at 3, he had a good autumn run in Southern California but failed to produce that form in his season finale, finishing seventh in the Woodchopper Stakes at Fair Grounds. But Tom Proctor, who trains Caribou Club for his breeder, Glen Hill Farm, had his horse very sharp for his first start at age 4.

Off splits of 24.10, 46.81, and 1:22.63, Caribou Club ran one mile on firm turf in 1:34.10, paying $15.20 to win. Now 4-2-3 from 11 starts, Caribou Club is a gelding by City Zip out of the Broken Vow mare Broken Dreams.