Get Smokin holds off Decorated Invader in Hill Prince Stakes

ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Tom Bush admits he hasn’t been overly kind to Get Smokin when it’s come to picking out his races.

Get Smokin was winless in seven starts since he won a maiden race at Belmont Park 13 months ago. Six of those losses came in stakes. Rather than look for something easy, Bush ran Get Smokin in Sunday’s Grade 2, $150,000 Hill Prince Stakes at Belmont Park against Decorated Invader, a horse who had finished ahead of Get Smokin three times this year.

Bush’s perseverance paid off Sunday as Get Smokin, able to get away with an easy lead under Javier Castellano, held off a late run from 2-5 favorite Decorated Invader to win the Hill Prince by a head. It was two lengths back to Bodecream in third.

Buy Land and See was fourth, followed by Starting Over, Glynn County, and Assiduously.

“I’ve thrown this horse to the wolves,” Bush said. “He’s one of those rare horses . . . they don’t get discouraged, they keep coming back and giving a top effort. You’re not going to break his spirit. A lot of horses, they would with what I did to him, but he’s not that kind.”

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Get Smokin, like his sire Get Stormy, is the front-running kind. In his last three races, he’s gotten to the lead early only to get passed late. His last start, the Saratoga Derby at 1 3/16 miles, Get Smokin actually broke poorly but rushed to the lead and simply went too fast, fading to eighth.

Sunday, he broke well under Castellano, got away with a quarter in 24.52 seconds and a half-mile in 49.52 – though Trakus had the half-mile in 48.22 – and six furlongs in 1:13.05 with Assiduously tracking from second.

Joel Rosario had Decorated Invader inside about five or six lengths off the pace.

Turning into the lane, Rosario was able to get Decorated Invader off the inside and into the clear, but he said he clipped the heels of another, presumably Starting Over.

Additionally, Decorated Invader’s strong turn of foot did not seem to be as potent on yielding turf as it had proven to be over firm earlier this year. His late rally fell just shy of Get Smokin, who covered the mile in 1:36.95 and returned $17.40.

As he watched the race unfold, Bush thought Decorated Invader was going to run down Get Smokin late.

“It looked like there was no way I could hold on because he was perfectly positioned,” said Bush, adding that Decorated Invader “doesn’t bear down until right at the end and he did bear down right at the end, but it was too late.”

Castellano hadn’t ridden Get Smokin since his maiden victory in September 2019. According to Bush, he only got Castellano the morning of the draw.

“They let me walk the dog, I tried to get the jump on Decorated Invader and lucky, right spot, right time to get it done,” Castellano said.

Bush said he would likely give Get Smokin a break and get him ready for the Gulfstream Park winter meet.