Diamond Oops shows his resilience in Smile Sprint win

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Patrick Biancone’s patience with his two-time stakes winner Diamond Oops paid big dividends Saturday at Gulfstream Park, where the lightly raced and somewhat injury-prone gelding rallied to a three-quarter-length decision over even-money favorite Jalen Journey in the $250,000 Smile Sprint.

Biancone has had to stop twice on Diamond Oops, who went to the sidelines for seven months after capturing the Buffalo Man Stakes here in December of 2017 and for another 10 months following a failed comeback attempt last summer. He then prepped the versatile son of Lookin At Lucky for the Grade 3 Smile in a bit of an unconventional manner, with two comeback races on the grass that included a solid fifth-place finish behind World of Trouble in the Grade 1 Jaipur.

“He strained a flexor in his pastern in January of 2018 then got injured again last summer, so we decided to give him as much time as he needed to make sure he fully recovered,” said Biancone. “We took a shot going to New York for the Grade 1, he ran very well, came out of it perfect, trained well here this week, so we decided to take a shot with him today.”

With Julien Leparoux aboard for the first time, Diamond Oops rated within easy striking distance of the leaders, swung out to the middle of the track while rallying into the stretch, then surged late to run down Jalen Journey nearing the wire. The latter was game in defeat after being pressured on the lead by Royal Squeeze. Jalen Journey ultimately disposed of that rival once settling into the stretch, continued on determinedly near the inside, but could not resist the winner at the end. Fast Pass finished another 1 1/2 lengths farther back in third.

Diamond Oops, who also won the Kiss a Native Stakes here at 2, is owned in partnership by Biancone along with the Diamond 100 Racing Club and Amy Dunne. He ran six furlongs in 1:09.97 over a track rated good and returned $15.20.

“He loves the wet track which is the reverse of Razorback Lady, who hates it,” Biancone said in reference to his filly who finished a tiring fourth 30 minutes earlier in the Grade 2 Princess Rooney. “When you come back from such a long time off, I believe running on the turf is easier, which is why I gave him the first two starts on grass. When you win, everything you do is great. When you don’t, everything is bad.”