Belmont Park

Lean times end for Santos, 'Lucifer'

David Grening|Sep 13, 2004

Adam Coglianese/NYRA Lucifer's Stone, who had not won a race since April, and Jose Santos, coming off a 1-for-38 season at Saratoga, wins the Grade 1 Garden City.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Lucifer's Stone and her jockey, Jose Santos, salvaged a fruitless summer with a 1 1/4-length victory in Sunday's Grade 1, $300,000 at Belmont Park.

Barancella, the longest shot in the seven-horse field, got up for second, three-quarters of a length ahead of fellow European invader Noahs Ark.

It was the first victory for Lucifer's Stone since April, when she capped a three-race winning streak with a victory in the Appalachian at Keeneland. Since then, Lucifer's Stone was beaten a neck in the Grade 3 Sands Point and 3 1/2 lengths in the Grade 3 Lake George at Saratoga. An injury kept Lucifer's Stone out of the American Oaks in July and an illness forced her to scratch out of the Lake Placid last month at Saratoga.

Santos, meanwhile, missed five weeks of action during the summer due a broken right arm suffered in the Belmont paddock and went 1 for 38 at Saratoga.

Lucifer's Stone ($20.40), trained by Linda Rice, covered the 1 1/8 miles in 1:48.88 over a good inner turf course. She will be pointed to the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland on Oct. 16.

* Javier Castellano displayed great patience aboard With Patience ($17.40), guiding the 5 year-old mare to a 1 3/4-length victory in the $61,450 Voodoo Dancer Stakes, covering one mile in 1:34.66 on the Widener turf.

* In the $59,350 Fly So Free Stakes, Castellano rallied Mass Media ($27.80) from seven lengths back to a head victory over even-money favorite Smokume. Mass Media ran six furlongs in 1:08.92.

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