Hard Love gets up at wire in Belmont Derby prep
In the same race in which Kentucky Pharoah jockey Kendrick Carmouche was unseated at the start, the 3-year-old Hard Love got up by a head to defeat Desert Peace, a 4-year-old, in a second-level allowance race.
Hard Love ran in that race after the Grade 3, $200,000 Pennine Ridge Stakes on May 29 was rained off the turf. On Saturday, Hard Love, under Manny Franco, raced inside of riderless Kentucky Pharoah, while stalking a loose-on-the-lead Desert Peace. Hard Love got his head down on the wire for the victory. It should set him up for the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Derby at 1 1/4 miles on turf on July 10.
“I was proud of him, he attended the pace very easily, he seemed to get stronger as the race went on,” trainer Jonathan Thomas said. “He got into the first dogfight of his life and he was able to win it. He showed us all the right things.”
Hard Love ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:50.12 and earned a 92 Beyer Speed Figure.