Mosler puts together winning performance in Elusive Quality

Mosler put it all together when winning the $100,000 Elusive Quality Stakes on opening day of the Belmont Park spring meet Wednesday.

He relaxed nicely in the second flight of horses along the inside while tracking a fast pace, split horses without hesitation when a hole opened in midstretch, and punched home nicely under Joel Rosario to win by two lengths in a quickly run race.

Mosler paid $10.80 as the third choice in the nine-horse field. He completed seven furlongs over a firm Widener turf course in a rapid 1:20.63, and he gave trainer Bill Mott a win in the race named after the rapid turf miler he trained.

Elusive Quality set a world record for a mile by winning the Grade 3 Poker over the Widener course at Belmont Park in 1:31.63 July 4, 1998. Although the world record since has been lowered, his course record still stands.

Mosler, a $1 million yearling buy by Adele Dilschneider in 2012, now is 4 for 9 in his career. He ran a very complete race while scoring his first stakes victory in the Elusive Quality. The win was his first on turf and his first at a distance under a mile.

“Past the three-eighths pole, he was moving really nice, and I was hoping he would stay the same all the way to the finish,” Rosario said. “When I asked him to run, he did it all.”

The pace-setting Plainview set fractions of 22.41 seconds, 45.33, and 1:08.65, and although he was out-finished by Mosler, he held second by a head at 11-1. Spring to the Sky, 13-1, tracked Plainview throughout and finished third by a nose over the late-running Slim Shadey, who ran very well while making his 7-year-old debut.

Dimension, the second choice at 7-2, and Tightend Touchdown, 6-1, broke a bit slowly. Dimension finished fifth and Tightend Touchodown ninth. King Kreesa, the 3-1 favorite, raced outside the winner early but lacked the needed bid and finished sixth.