No Parole proves he's Grade 1-worthy in Woody Stephens Stakes

ELMONT, N.Y. - No Parole easily passed his class and distance test by cruising to a front-running 3 3/4-length victory in Saturday’s Grade 1, $250,000 Woody Stephens Stakes for 3-year-olds at Belmont Park.

Breaking alertly from the rail under Luis Saez, No Parole was able to make a clear lead in the seven-furlong race while running an opening quarter in 22.32 seconds, pursued by Meru and Mischevious Alex. Mischevious Alex moved into second by the time the half-mile was run in 45.01 seconds. But while Mischevious Alex flattened out, No Parole kept on motoring, and he ran away from his four rivals for the easy score.

No Parole, a Louisiana-bred son of Violence, covered the seven furlongs in 1:21.41 and returned $8.20 as the third choice in the evenly bet field of five.

“That was awesome,” trainer Tom Amoss said from Kentucky, where he watched the race from home before heading to Churchill Downs to saddle a horse in the second race. “No Parole ran great. He was able to dictate the pace down the backside. He’s really athletic. When they got into the turn he was fluid and he was able to do it on his terms. He had the right rider regulating his speed.”

Saez was on No Parole for the first time. He said he was a little surprised that there was no one near him early.

“They had a lot of speed in this race,” Saez said. “I guess the other fast horses didn’t break so well. We break so perfect and we were there. He was perfect. When everybody got close to him, he took off again.”

No Parole had dominated Louisiana-bred company in his first three starts. So impressive was he that Amoss recommended to Greg Tramontin to buy half the horse from primary owner Maggi Moss. The first start for the new partnership was the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes, where No Parole failed to stay the two turns and 1 1/16 miles, finishing last. He did come back to win an open-company allowance sprint at Oaklawn on April 24.

“Half the horse was sold on my recommendation, so this backs up what I said about the horse,” Amoss said. “Maggi Moss and I have been in the business a long time together. I told her before he ever ran, this isn’t just a good Louisiana-bred, this is a really good horse.”

Amoss said the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens at Saratoga on Aug. 1 would be a logical target for No Parole.

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Echo Town rallied from fourth to be second by 1 3/4 lengths over his stablemate Shoplifted. Both horses are trained by Steve Asmussen.

“There are a lot of things that aren’t the same about this year’s Belmont Stakes, but one thing is - speed and the rail, baby,” Asmussen said.

Meanwhile, Mischevious Alex had a three-race winning streak snapped. After stalking the pace under Kendrick Carmouche, Mischevious Alex backed up in the lane, finishing fourth, beaten 5 3/4 lengths.

“I thought he was plenty fit,” trainer John Servis said. “[Carmouche] didn’t say anything about him getting tired, he just said he was a little flat. Disappointing. I didn’t think these horses could outrun him. Maybe he just had a bad day.”

Meru, who went off the surprising 2-1 favorite, faded to last.