Gallery earns hard-fought victory in Manila

ELMONT, N.Y. – When two of the top three contenders, High Noon Rider and Nonna’s Boy, scratched from Sunday’s $100,000 Manila at Belmont Park, leaving a field of only four 3-year-olds, the race figured to be a relatively lackluster affair and a walk in the park for the 1-5 favorite A Lot.

But jockey Jose Lezcano and Gallery had other ideas, taking advantage of a soft pace and digging in bravely through the stretch to win a nose bob from A Lot to register a well-deserved victory in the one-mile Manila.

Gallery, who finished third in an entry-level allowance race here last month, quickly took the lead under Lezcano and rated kindly on the front end with A Lot breathing down his neck from the outset while well held by jockey John Velazquez. Gallery maintained a slight advantage after cutting the corner into the stretch, but the odds-on favorite seemed to have him measured and at his mercy at that point. But Gallery would not be denied, getting his nose down on the wire after it appeared A Lot had stuck his head in front briefly right before the finish line.

Gallery’s victory gave trainer Mike Dini, who is stabled at Monmouth Park, his first stakes winner in New York. A son of Munnings owned by Ballybrit Stable LLC, Gallery completed the distance in 1:35.35 over a firm course and returned $12.80.

“As soon as I saw the one [Nonna’s Boy] scratched, I thought if [Gallery] was ever going to win, today would be the day because I thought Johnny [Velazquez] might give him a break because his horse didn’t need the lead,” said Dini. “Every time I run him, he seems to run a bigger number and lose. And the day I ran him in the Penn Mile, he got pushed the whole way, and if he doesn’t get cut off at the wire, he probably runs third. I was watching this race right on the finish line and thought he’d won, but after looking at the replay a second time, I wasn’t so sure. It was that close.”