Last Gunfighter tops Suburban
ELMONT, N.Y. – Last Gunfighter, a seven-time stakes winner, will seek the most prestigious prize of his career when he tops a field of 11 entered in Saturday’s Grade 2, $500,000 Suburban Handicap at Belmont Park.
Last Gunfighter, a 5-year-old son of First Samurai, began his campaign with a hard-fought nose victory in the Mountainview Handicap at Penn National on May 31, his first start since winning the Grade 2 Hawthorne Gold Cup last Nov. 30. His other stakes wins are the Grade 3 Pimlico Special, Grade 3 Philip Iselin, Grade 3 Excelsior, and two listed stakes over Aqueduct’s inner track.
Last year, Last Gunfighter finished second in the Suburban to Flat Out. Also last year, he was beaten only 4 3/4 lengths in the Breeders’ Cup Classic when finishing fifth behind Mucho Macho Man.
“He’s knocked on the door in some big races,” trainer Chad Brown said. “If he was able to win this race, it would be his biggest race to date.”
Last Gunfighter drew post 5 and will be the 120-pound highweight under Javier Castellano.
While this 128th running of the Suburban didn’t draw the upper echelon of the older male division such as Palace Malice, it still came up a very competitive race.
Romansh, who ran a solid third, 1 1/2 lengths behind Palace Malice, in the Metropolitan Handicap, tops the competition. He won the Grade 3 Discovery in impressive fashion last fall and just got up to beat stablemate Long River in the Excelsior this spring.
Romansh will break from post 6 under Jose Ortiz Jr.
Norumbega and Micromanage were separated by a neck when one-two in the Grade 2 Brooklyn Invitational on Belmont Stakes Day. Micromanage will break from the rail, while Norumbega landed in post 4.
Others entered in the Suburban, which will be run at 1 1/4 miles for the first time since 2009, are Ever Rider, Zivo, Prayer for Relief, Stormin Monarcho, Vyjack, Mylute, and Moreno.