La Fuerza, Hushion meet again in Rockville Centre Stakes

ELMONT, N.Y. – During their time together, owner Barry Schwartz and trainer Mike Hushion won a lot of races together. On Saturday in the $100,000 Rockville Centre Stakes at Belmont Park, they’ll be adversaries.

Sort of.

Schwartz is the owner of La Fuerza, who looks like the horse to beat in the Rockville Centre, a six-furlong stakes for New York-bred 2-year-olds. One of his four rivals will be Hushion, a horse owned, trained, and bred by Bruce Brown and named in honor of the former trainer who retired a year ago.

La Fuerza already defeated Hushion by 7 3/4 lengths in a June 22 maiden race. La Fuerza, trained by Todd Pletcher, was pinched back at the break and was fifth, 7 1/4 lengths back, after the opening quarter. He made a wide, eye-catching move from the three-eighths pole to the top of the lane to take the lead and draw away while Hushion finished second, 10 lengths ahead of the rest of the field.

“Thought he ran wonderfully, really excited,” Schwartz said from California on Thursday before boarding a flight headed to New York to be in attendance Saturday at Belmont. “Honestly, he’s out of a crop of 18 2-year-olds I have. Clearly, he was the best-looking one, and he ran to his looks, I guess. We’re excited.”

Schwartz is the breeder of La Fuerza, a son of Flatter.

Hushion is a son of The Lumber Guy, whom Schwartz and Hushion campaigned together and who won the Grade 1 Vosburgh here in 2013. Hushion sold The Lumber Guy to Spendthrift Farm, which in turn sold the horse to South American interests.

Brown said he decided to name a horse after Hushion because they became good friends when he was stabled in Hushion’s barn several years ago.

“Being by The Lumber Guy, I thought it was a cool idea to name it after Mike, being he was by a horse he trained,” Brown said.

Brown said Hushion would have to “really step forward to beat” La Fuerza, but he thought that in a small field, it was worth taking a shot.

The horse with the best chance to beat La Fuerza is What the Luck, a son of Lookin At Lucky who won his debut at Aqueduct going 4 1/2 furlongs on April 19. He has worked only twice since and is trained by Wesley Ward.

Bustin Mach Four, third in his debut, and the first-time starter Red Zinger complete the field.