Ole Crazy Bone holds off Fort George at wire to take Bowling Green
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Ole Crazy Bone got away with a soft early pace and then held off a resurgent Fort George to win Saturday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Bowling Green Stakes by a nose at Saratoga, despite an almost costly and rare mistake from jockey Flavien Prat.
After dictating terms throughout the race and fending off a top-of-the-stretch challenge from Fort George, Prat thought he was in good shape in deep stretch. He eased up on Ole Crazy Bone about three strides from the wire and was fortunate to hold off Fort George and jockey Kieran Shoemark. Fort George was second by a half-length over Minaret Station.
“I thought I had him and he came back, so yeah, I’m glad we held on,” said Prat, who won four races on Saturday’s card.
Trainer Mike Maker said he felt confident when he saw that six furlongs went in a pedestrian 1:15.22, but he admitted to growing concerned in deep stretch.
“Flavien looked like he was a little confident late in the race, it was a little closer than I’d like to see,” Maker said.
Ole Crazy Bone, a 6-year-old gelding by Ghostzapper owned by Flying P Stable, covered 1 3/8 miles in 2:14.18 and returned $4.80 as the favorite.
Ole Crazy Bone won for the eighth time in 21 starts. It was his second win from four starts since Maker and Flying P’s Jason Provenzano claimed him for $100,000 in June 2025. After finishing second in a stakes at Ellis Park, Ole Crazy Bone won the $2.5 million Kentucky Cup at Kentucky Downs, a race that earned him $1,446,300.
After that race, Ole Crazy Bone was sidelined due to a knee chip that kept him away from the races until May, when he ran a close second in an allowance on May 21 at 1 1/16 miles at Churchill Downs.
“That was more to get a race into him,” Maker said. “He ran a winning race at not an optimal distance, but the horse that beat him was a good horse and that was a deep competitive field.”
Maker said this race should set Ole Crazy Bone up nicely for the Kentucky Turf Cup Invitational on Sept. 5 at Kentucky Downs. Maker indicated he would train him up to that race.
Fort George, the Great Britain-bred, was making his first start since March 28 when he ran ninth in the Group 1 Dubai Turf, his fourth race of the year. Trainer Ed Walker shipped Fort George to the U.S. hoping he would run well enough in the Bowling Green to run in the Grade 1 Christophe Clement here on Aug. 15.
Walker saw what he needed to see to keep Fort George in Saratoga for the summer.
“It was a big run, really happy,” Walker told New York Racing Association publicity. “Obviously, when you’re that close, you’re always gutted to get beaten. I think Prat just slowed the pace up enough to make it hard for us to reel him in. It was a really great run from Fort George, he’s so tough and genuine.”
Trainer Will Walden said Minaret Station was compromised by the lack of pace and said he may consider putting in a speed horse when he runs the horse back in the Clement.
“It’s so hard when you don’t have the pace, they were crawling, no pressure, nothing,” Walden said. “I hope there’s more horses in the next spot. If not, we may just have to nominate something with a little bit of speed.”
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