El Grande O has easy time in Bertram F. Bongard Stakes
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El Grande O made the lead soon after the start, shook off some mild pace pressure from Detective Tom before splashing his way to an 8 1/4-length victory in Sunday’s $125,000 Bertram F. Bongard Stakes for New York-bred juveniles at Aqueduct.
Aggelos the Great rallied from last to finish second by two lengths over Bonne Chance. Skyler’s Starship, Detective Tom and Ranger Blue completed the order of finish. Trust Fund was scratched as he is entered in Monday’s Aspirant Stakes at Finger Lakes.
For El Grande O, the win in the Bongard came after runner-up finishes in two stakes at Saratoga within a 10-day period. On Aug. 17, El Grande O finished second in the off-the-turf Skidmore against open company. On Aug. 27, El Grande O was beaten a head by The Wine Steward in the $200,000 Funny Cide Stakes for New York-breds.
Sunday, over an extremely sloppy track that was playing kind to front-runners, El Grande O, under Jose Ortiz, made the lead a few strides out of the gate, ran splits of 22.76 seconds for the quarter and 46.03 for the half with Detective Tom right off of him.
Leaving the three-eighths pole, El Grande O left Detective Tom and the race was basically over.
“He broke sharp,” Ortiz told the New York Racing Association publicity department. “Obviously, he has speed. I went out there and he was the fastest in the race. I can’t take any credit - he was the best horse.”
El Grande O, a son of Take Charge Indy trained by Linda Rice for owner Barry Schwartz, covered the seven furlongs in 1:23.89 - .61 seconds slower than Cara’s Time’s final time in winning the $121,250 Joseph A. Gimma earlier on the card. Sent off as the 3-5 favorite, El Grande O returned $3.40 to win.
Cara’s Time upsets Gimma
Cara’s Time, under Dylan Davis, used the same front-running tactics to win the $121,250 Joseph Gimma Stakes by 1 1/2 lengths, but did so as the 22-1 longest shot in the field of five.
Cara’s Time got to the lead through fractions of 22.87 seconds for the quarter, 46.23 for the half-mile and easily held off a late bid from odds-on favorite Caldwell Luvs Gold. It was 5 3/4 lengths back to My Mane Squeeze in third. My Shea D Lady was fourth while Nicky Jolene was eased across the finish line.
Cara’s Time, a daughter of Not This Time owned by Richard Greeley and trained by Mitch Friedman, covered the seven furlongs in 1:23.89 and returned $47.
Cara’s Time had won her debut in front-running fashion, but trainer Mitch Friedman put blinkers on the filly for the Seeking the Ante Stakes at Saratoga, where Cara’s Time finished fifth.
Friedman removed the blinkers for the Gimma.
“She had dumped the rider after she broke her maiden and in the mornings, if she sees something, she won’t walk through the end of the barn, she has to go through the middle if there’s something she doesn’t like,” Friedman told the New York Racing Association publicity department. “I thought the blinkers would help and she worked well with them, but we took them off and [hoped] she would stay focused.”
Both Friedman and Davis said Cara’s Time relished the sloppy going.
“She was a little skipper on that mud and she really got comfortable,” Davis said.
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