Domestic Product impresses back at one turn in Dwyer

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Domestic Product served as a more-than-suitable substitute for an injured stablemate and passed his test run back at one turn Saturday at Aqueduct, dominating Saturday’s Grade 3, $186,000 Dwyer Stakes by 7 1/2 lengths.

Forced to race out in the middle of the track down the backside as Paco Lopez kept Hades five paths off the rail while racing in second, Domestic Product, under Flavien Prat, raced in third. Billal, under Junior Alvarado, set fractions of 23.51 seconds for the quarter and 46.27 for the half-mile

Entering the far turn, Prat moved Domestic Product into second, brought him up alongside Billal turning for home, and easily kicked clear from the three-sixteenths pole to the wire. Hades, who beat Domestic Product in the Grade 3 Holy Bull at Gulfstream Park in January, finished second Saturday by five lengths over Billal. Save the Trees was last of four.

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Domestic Product hadn’t raced around one turn since he finished fifth in his career debut last August at Saratoga. He had run in six consecutive two-turn races, winning a maiden at 1 1/8 miles here last November and the Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby at 1 1/16 miles in March. Domestic Product finished 13th in the Kentucky Derby before, most recently, running second in the Pegasus at Monmouth Park.

Trainer Chad Brown had wanted to cut Domestic Product back to a one-turn race with the H. Allen Jerkens, a seven-furlong race at Saratoga on Aug. 24, in mind. But he didn’t want to wait that long to run him again.

When General Partner came up with a problem, Brown decided to wheel Domestic Product back in three weeks and saluted the horse for running as well as he did on a relatively short turnaround.

“I was very proud of the horse,” Brown said. “He’s proven to be a very durable, hearty-type horse to come back in three weeks. He did a lot of shipping from Saratoga to Monmouth back to Saratoga and down to Aqueduct and to turn in a performance like that shows he’s very durable. Getting him back to one-turn after he’s been pulling a little bit in his races seemed to be to his liking.”

Prat said the cutback to one turn helped Domestic Product settle early in the Dwyer.

“He was very good the first quarter then he got on the bridle a little bit, very manageable,” Prat said. “He took a nice breather around the turn then he was able to show his kick turning for home.”

Domestic Product, out of Practical Joke owned by Seth Klarman, covered the mile in a sharp 1:33.54 and returned $3.40 as the favorite.

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