Dawn of the Condor rides the rail

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - With an electrifying late move on the rail, Dawn of the Condor flew home a two-length winner of Saturday's $150,000 at Aqueduct.

North East Bound, the 5-2 favorite, set soft fractions, but came up empty in the final furlong and finished sixth in the nine-horse field of turf runners.

Serial Bride was second in the Grade 2 Knickerbocker, a neck in front of the third-place finisher, Polish Miner.

Under Jorge Chavez, Dawn of the Condor sat well off the pace in the 1 1/8-mile Knickerbocker, which was run over a yielding course. Chavez found a seam for Dawn of the Condor early in the stretch and the 5-year-old gamely drew clear late.

Dawn of the Condor, running for the first time over the Aqueduct turf, was equipped with blinkers two starts back. Chavez said he thought they played a role in the gelding's performance on Saturday.

"The blinkers really have helped him out," Chavez said. "He's been really good his last few races. He rated beautifully and had no problems coming up the rail."

Dawn of the Condor ($16.80) covered the distance in 1:52.54.

Jose Velez Jr., who rode North East Bound, said the yielding course didn't help the favorite.

"I don't think this turf course favors speed," he said. "A mile and an eighth may be a bit too far for him."

Dawn of the Condor, who won a few ungraded stakes earlier in his career, scored his biggest career win in the Knickerbocker. He is owned by Rich Meadow Farm and trained by Gary Sciacca.

Sciacca made a small adjustment in the blinkers for Saturday's race.

"We closed up the blinkers on him a little bit today," Sciacca said.

"Last time, he got outside early and he doesn't want that. He wants to stay down inside and in a little bit of trouble. He likes to fight for it."

Sciacca said he had no immediate plans for Dawn of the Condor, a son of Twining, who has a record of 8-1-6 from 20 starts and earnings of $347,808.