Gerrymander surges in Mother Goose Stakes

ELMONT, N.Y. - Gerrymander rebounded from a disappointing 3-year-old debut last month at Churchill Downs to record a 6-1 upset in Saturday’s four-horse, Grade 2, $250,000 Mother Goose Stakes at Belmont Park.

After breaking on top under Joel Rosario, Gerrymander conceded the lead to race favorites Juju’s Map and Shahama, then rallied past those two in upper stretch on her way to a three-length victory.

Shahama, who stumbled at the start under Flavien Prat, finished second by 4 3/4 lengths over 1-2 favorite Juju’s Map. Venti Valentine trailed throughout and finished last. Midnight Stroll scratched, presumably to run in next weekend’s Grade 3 Delaware Oaks.

Gerrymander gave trainer Chad Brown a sweep of the stakes run Saturday at Belmont as he also captured the $100,000 Wild Applause with Eminent Victor. Brown has a meet-leading 39 victories - five off the spring/summer meet record of 44 set by David Jacobson in 2013 - with nine racing days remaining. Brown has won 13 stakes at the meet, 11 of which are graded.

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Gerrymander won the Tempted here last October but then got sick and was put away for the remainder of the year, Brown said. She didn’t make her 3-year-old debut until the Grade 2 Eight Belles, a race in which she finished sixth behind Matareya, who came back to win the Grade 1 Acorn here two weeks ago.

Brown said the Churchill main track, which was drying out on that Kentucky Oaks Day card, was not to Gerrymander’s liking. Further, Brown drew a line through that race after he saw how well Gerrymander was training at Belmont, her home track.

“She always trained super here, we were pretty confident at least she’d show up today,” Brown said.

Gerrymander broke on top, but the early pace was slow and Juju’s Map, a Grade 1 winner from last year, took the lead under Florent Geroux. The opening quarter was 24.09 seconds, but the second quarter went in 22.81, so Rosario just took a hold of Gerrymander.

“It looked like they were in a hurry a little bit early, so I just took my time,” Rosario said.

Approaching the top of the stretch, Shahama had tackled Juju’s Map, but Rosario had Gerrymander on the move, three-wide and in the clear. She took over at the three-sixteenths pole and gradually drew away.

Gerrymander, a daughter of Into Mischief owned by Seth Klarman’s Klaravich Stables, covered the 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.74 and returned $15 as the third choice in the four-horse field.

“When she broke on the front I liked it,” Brown said. “When he decided to put a hold on her a little bit and let Juju’s Map overtake him I did question it down the backside. When I saw the fractions 24-to-46 I said well, Joel has a better clock than I do because that was probably the right move to do and it sure was the winning move.”

Brown said Gerrymander, as a half-sister to multiple marathon graded stakes winner Lone Rock, would be pointed to the Grade 1 Alabama at Saratoga on Aug. 20. He will figure out later if she runs between now and then.

Meanwhile, Juju’s Map was a well-beaten third in the Mother Goose, 7 3/4 lengths behind Gerrymander - her worst showing from six starts. Jockey Florent Geroux said he knew he was in trouble around the turn when his filly continuously switched leads.

“I was a little bit worried and she had no finish at all down the lane,” Geroux said.