Mr. Buff, after early burst of speed, holds on to win Stymie

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Heavily favored Mr. Buff ($3.40) flaunted his speed early and then desperately held on late to win Saturday’s $125,000 Stymie Stakes at Aqueduct.

With new rider Manny Franco seemingly intent on the early lead, Mr. Buff ran the opening six furlongs in 1:09.87 over Aqueduct’s sealed, sloppy main track while being chased by Musical Heart. After fending off that rival, Mr. Buff was noticeably tiring late, but was able to hold off the charge of Limonite to win the Stymie by a half-length.

It was another half-length back to Musical Heart in third. Tintoretto and Alwaysmining completed the order of finish.

It was the 17th career victory and 11th stakes win for Mr. Buff, a 7-year-old New York-bred gelding by Friend or Foe owned and bred by Chester and Mary Broman and trained by John Kimmel. Mr. Buff increased his career earnings to $1,364,536.

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Though Kimmel believes Mr. Buff can be equally effective on or just off the pace, Franco - riding Mr. Buff for just the second time - felt the gelding is better on the lead.

Franco hustled Mr. Buff to the front and he opened up a length on Musical Heart through a quarter in 22.96 seconds and a half-mile in 45.51. In last month’s Jazil Stakes, Mr. Buff stalked Musical Heart and won by seven lengths under Kendrick Carmouche.

“When I got to the front and I was on the lead the whole way I was happy because I know that’s the way he likes to run,” Franco said.

Franco said at the sixteenth pole he could feel Mr. Buff tiring.

“I know I went pretty quick the first part, but that’s what my plan was,” Franco said.

Mr. Buff covered the mile in 1:36.97.

Kimmel, watching from South Florida, said he was nervous about having to change jockeys, and felt his horse was “fortunate” to get the victory.

“I think he won despite the fact he was in a very contentious early pace,” Kimmel said.

Kimmel said he may point Mr. Buff to the Grade 3, $150,000 Excelsior here April 3.

Limonite was making his second start off the claim for trainer Amira Chichakly and owners Brian and Kerry Novak. On Feb. 8, Limonite won a second-level allowance by five lengths. Chichakly said she entered Limonite in the Stymie due to the short field and was “pleasantly surprised” coming that close to victory after trailing by nearly 10 lengths early under Eric Cancel.

“We were thinking maybe we’d end up third today, but the way he ran coming from the clouds to finish up like that, he really just showed what an amazing horse he is and what he can do when he’s in a barn where he enjoys things,” Chichakly said. “If we had gotten involved a little sooner maybe we would have won this race, but he didn’t want to. Out of the gate, Eric tried to hustle him a little bit, he said ‘Nope, just wait for me, I’m going to tell you when I’m ready.’ "