Civil Union responds to challenge to win River Memories Stakes

ELMONT, N.Y. – Civil Union had already shown her connections she had stamina. Sunday, she showed she had a turn of foot to go along with it.

Jockey Jose Ortiz used both of those qualities to his advantage in guiding Civil Union to a 1 3/4-length victory in the $80,000 River Memories Stakes, the closing-day feature at Belmont Park.

After taking over from Beau Belle and Pallas Athene nearing the quarter pole, Civil Union was confronted by race favorite Olympic Games. When Ortiz hit Civil Union once left-handed, she responded, running away from Olympic Games and running a final quarter in 23.70 seconds for the victory.

“When I asked her to go, she gave me a good turn of foot for this mile-and-a-half distance,” Ortiz said. “Sometimes, they just hang in there because they have the stamina, but she has some turn of foot and the stamina, which helps.”

The win was the second straight and third from six starts overall for Civil Union, a daughter of War Front trained by Shug McGaughey and owned and bred by Joe Allen. Civil Union won a 1 1/4-mile allowance by a neck here June 21 off a four-month layoff.

“She naturally wants to run that far, we knew it,” said McGaughey, who won eight races from 27 starts. “That’s why after I ran her at Gulfstream, I didn’t run her back until we got up here. I thought she would really thrive on the bigger track. How good she was, I didn’t really know.”

Civil Union covered the 1 1/2 miles over firm turf in 2:29.49 and returned $11.80.

Olympic Games was second by 1 1/2 lengths over Beau Belle who was followed by her stablemate Dyna Passer, Pallas Athene, Beale Street, Wegetsdamunnys, Lemon Zip, Red Curls, and Seeking Revenge.

The win capped a three-win day for Jose Ortiz, who won 15 races from his last 40 mounts at the meet and finished with 32 victories, second only to his brother Irad Ortiz Jr., who won 34 races.

Meanwhile, Chad Brown won the Belmont spring/summer trainer’s title with 23 wins, nine more than Christophe Clement.

Seth Klarman’s Klaravich Stables was leading owner with 13 wins.

Empire 6 returns $29,954

With only one winning favorite in the sequence, the Empire 6 returned $29,954.70 for a 20-cent wager on closing day of the Belmont spring/summer meet on which there was a mandatory payout.

There was $3,052,900 wagered on Sunday on top of a $477,409 carryover.

The winning sequence of 5-6-1-2-7-3 consisted of Mitzrayim ($21.40), Fooch ($19.20), Dancingwthdaffodls ($6.40), Bobbyfromthepalm ($11.40), Civil Union ($11.80), and Magical Romance ($9.20).