Lone Rock crushes Brooklyn rivals by more than 11 lengths
ELMONT, N.Y. - Solid as a rock.
With a dominating performance in Saturday’s Grade 2, $400,000 Brooklyn for older horses traveling 1 1/2 miles at Belmont Park, Lone Rock earned his sixth win from the last seven starts and stamped himself as America’s leading marathon performer on dirt.
Trained by Robertino Diodoro and ridden by Ramon Vazquez, Lone Rock utilized his excellent tactical speed to escape the far outside post in the nine-horse Brooklyn. The 6-year-old gelded son of Majestic Warrior prompted pacesetter Musical Heart through fractions of 23.91, 47.85, and 1:12.65, took over at will swinging into the stretch, and powered away to score by 11 1/4 lengths in 2:28.97.
Lone Rock earned a 100 Beyer Speed Figure and paid $8.90.
Favored Tizamagician finished second. It was another length back to Moretti in third. Campaign, You’re to Blame, Ry’s the Guy, Ajaaweed, Rocketry, and Musical Heart completed the order of finish.
“Everything worked out perfect,” Diodoro said after watching the Brooklyn via simulcast. “We loved the outside post. Ramon did a great job keeping an eye on the pace and making sure it was honest.”
A next start has yet to be determined for Lone Rock, but Diodoro mentioned the $120,000 Birdstone Stakes on Aug. 5 at Saratoga as a possibility. He maintained that he wants Lone Rock to “keep going long. The more and longer you train this horse, he thrives on it. He’s a big, sound horse and is coming into his own right now.”
Tizamagician, one of the expected pace factors, lost significant ground at the start.
“Right before the gate opened, he went straight in the air,” said jockey Flavien Prat. “He was standing well in there so just bad luck. After that, we had time to regroup and get ourself into the race. He was relaxed, traveling well, and ran a good race.”
Reclaimed by Flying P Stable for $40,000 last fall at Keeneland, Lone Rock has won exactly one-third of his 33 lifetime starts.
