Neptune's Storm overtakes A Thread of Blue in Hill Prince

After watching Neptune’s Storm hang during the latter stages of his first two starts against graded stakes company this summer at Del Mar, trainer Richard Baltas decided to make two changes. Remove the blinkers and ship the improving 3-year-old east, choices that ultimately led to his three-quarter-length victory over the pacesetting A Thread of Blue in Saturday’s $400,000 Hill Prince Stakes at Belmont Park.

With jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. orchestrating a picture-perfect trip, Neptune’s Storm broke well and cleared over into the first turn to stalk A Thread of Blue, who earlier this year won the $1 million Saratoga Derby in wire-to-wire fashion. A Thread of Blue set a modest pace of 25.48 seconds, 50.92, and 1:15.20 for the opening six furlongs, with Santana patiently waiting to make his move aboard Neptune’s Storm.

Santana finally asked Neptune’s Storm to go once settling into the stretch, the son of Stormy Atlantic responding to steady urging to overtake the leader a sixteenth out before edging away at the end. Standard Deviation raced forwardly throughout and rallied mildly only to fall a nose short of running down 9-5 favorite A Thread of Blue for second money.

Neptune’s Storm, who was beaten a neck when finishing second in the Grade 3 La Jolla Handicap on Aug. 4 and the same margin finishing third four weeks later in the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby, paid $22.40 for his fifth win in 12 lifetime starts. Final time for 1 1/8 miles over a firm inner turf course was 1:49.74.

"I was just a passenger today,” said Santana, who rode Neptune’s Storm for the first time in the Grade 2 Hill Prince. “He put himself in a position that he wanted. That horse is so classy and he knows how to win. He did everything by himself, to be honest. Turning for home, I knew I had plenty of horse and I knew I just had to wait. This stretch is so long, so I knew I could wait until the right moment. He gave me a nice, strong kick and finish to get home."

John Rochfort, co-owner of Neptune’s Storm along with five others, gave Baltas the credit for the victory.

“He was unlucky his last two races. All the credit has to go to Richie Baltas and his team,” said Rochfort. “After the last race, they changed things up and got the horse to relax a bit and it showed today. He just ran great. We took the blinkers off and trained him that way for a few weeks and he just ran a fantastic race today. It was all the trainer. He said he was in great condition and we should take a shot at this, and there wasn't really anything in California, so that's why we decided to come."