Layabout shrugs off shaky start, wins Bear's Den by neck
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Layabout, a 3-year-old gelding trained by Patrick Biancone, recovered from a poor beginning and got the better of a four-horse scramble to win the $75,000 Bear’s Den Stakes at Gulfstream Park on Saturday.
It was jockey Jonathan Ocasio’s first stakes victory.
“It’s been a long trip, five years right now,” Ocasio said. “After five years, thank God I finally got my first stakes race.“
The 25-year-old rider’s breakthrough in the Bear’s Den was several months in the making, as he first rode Layabout as a 23-1 maiden winner in May. In the gelding’s first three starts on dirt, he never finished better than fifth and lost by 81 combined lengths. Since switching to synthetic and then turf for Biancone, however, he has rapidly improved to win three straight races, all with Ocasio aboard.
“He’s a very nice kid,” Biancone said. “Even with my accent, he understands what I say. He’s ready to learn a lot and he’s doing that. I’m delighted with him.”
The gelding earned his victories against maidens and allowance runners with stalking trips, and he was similarly tactical in his stakes debut. But when Ocasio tried to challenge 3-2 favorite Forged Steel on the front end entering the first turn, Layabout checked along the rail and didn’t settle down until he was on the backstretch. Biancone said that the gelding wears severe blinkers to keep other runners out of view, but Ocasio still had a lot of trouble with him on the rail.
“The idea was to try and get the lead, but [Forged Steel] got it before us,” Ocasio said. “I was trying to relax him a bit and had that tight spot on the first turn, but after that, I just put a hand on him and he relaxed."
With several rivals forced to chase in the early going, Forged Steel went straight to the front for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. and led by a length through an opening quarter-mile in 23.40.
While Layabout was finally settling into a stalking position in fourth, jockey Edwin Gonzalez urged Iron Hand, a winner in each of his last four races for trainer Jose D’Angelo, forward to challenge the leader on the backstretch, poking a head in front through a brisk half-mile in 46.49.
Forged Steel and Iron Hand continued sparring around the far turn while Layabout and Lastabitlonger, a gelding trained by Chad Stewart, prepared to make bids from just off the pace. The stalking pair were not yet involved turning for home, but they quickly began making up ground when both early leaders began to tire.
Lastabitlonger made the first move on the two leaders, and with Layabout still well behind, Stewart’s gelding looked like a sure winner. But by the time he and jockey Leonel Reyes got past Iron Hand on the outside, Ocasio had Layabout in top gear, slicing into the margin with every stride.
Lastabitlonger finally pulled in front with less than 100 yards to go, but his lead barely lasted a stride, as Layabout flew right past to win by a neck. He completed the mile and 70 yards in 1:32.78 and paid $10 to win.
Lastabitlonger finished 3/4 length ahead of Iron Hand, who earned a third-place triumph over Forged Steel by 1 1/4 lengths.
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