Emaraaty and Prat take the initiative and are rewarded with a victory in Bernard Baruch
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y - Employing a strategy that worked so well for his stablemate Virginia Joy in the Grade 2 Flower Bowl 48 hours earlier, Emaraaty led every step of the way to register a convincing 3 1/2-length victory over City Man in Monday’s $200,000 Bernard Baruch.
The 1 1/16-mile Bernard Baruch was the final turf stakes of the 2022 Saratoga season, and Emaraaty’s victory clinched a fifth Saratoga training title for Chad Brown.
Although Emaraaty had never been close to the lead in any of his previous 10 U.S. starts, including the 2019 Bernard Baruch, the 7-year-old gelding was able to open a comfortable early advantage in the Grade 3 fixture. He posted splits of 23.44 seconds for the first quarter and 47.35 for the opening half-mile over a track listed as firm despite steady light showers falling throughout the day.
Winters Back stalked the pace from the outset and moved to closer contention entering the stretch, but Emaraaty repulsed the mild bid when sharply roused by Flavien Prat approaching the furlong grounds, and was never threatened thereafter.
City Man, winner of the Grade 3 Forbidden Apple here earlier in the meet, rallied mildly to be second, 2 1/2 lengths in front of the tiring Winters Back, who held third. Mouillage, Emaraaty’s uncoupled stablemate and the even-money favorite despite making his first start in six months, was not a factor and finished last in the field of six older horses.
Emaraaty, who won a third level optional claiming and allowance race here going a mile from off the pace on Aug. 4, completed a mile and one-sixteenth in 1:41.36 and paid $14.80.
“What a heads-up ride by Flavien,” said Brown. “The race looked devoid of speed, so I gave him the option to send him out of there, and he said when he asked him leaving the gate he tried to run off a little bit, but down the backstretch he started to feel more comfortable with the horse. He was doing it easily. I was very impressed and proud of Emaraaty that he was able to re-break again after passing the three-quarters in 1:11.”
Brown said gelding Emaraaty last December after he was privately purchased by his current ownership group of Michael Dubb, Michael Caruso and Madaket Stables LLC, has made a world of difference.
“It’s a little late to geld a horse, but we tried it and he’s been a different horse since we did and gave him time,” said Brown. “He certainly stepped up to a new class, which I really attribute to both gelding the horse and his maturity.”
Mouillage, making just his second U.S. appearance and first since finishing second in the Grade 3 Canadian Turf at Gulfstream Park on March 5, “did not appear to handle the going,” Brown said.
In regard to capturing yet another Saratoga training title, Brown said: “I’m so proud of my team and my horses. I know it sounds repetitive but it’s the truth. Everybody contributed. And of course the horses, I’m so proud of the stable of horses we’ve got. They gave it their all all meet. Whether they won or lost was irrelevant. Very few times did I leave the unsaddling area disappointed in any of them.”