Palace rallies to win True North

ELMONT, N.Y. – Linda Rice had many decisions to make when it came to Friday’s Grade 2 True North Stakes at Belmont Park. Does she run Palace, who she felt wasn’t quite fit enough to run off a 3 1/2-month layoff while forced to carry the top weight? Does she run Marriedtothemusic, a speedy sort who had shown some prowess training on turf, which led to Rice entering him in Saturday’s Grade 3 Jaipur Invitational?

In the end, Rice ran both, with the speedy Marriedtothemusic helping to set up the late run of Palace, who rallied three wide in the stretch under Jose Ortiz and outfinished Bakken to win the $250,000 True North by three-quarters of a length. Bakken, away since finishing fifth in the Grade 1 Malibu in December, finished second by 1 1/2 lengths over Salutos Amigos. They were followed by Eastwood, Dads Caps, Marriedtothemusic, and Integrity. Royal Currier and Well Spelled scratched.

The win was the ninth from 18 career starts for Palace and the eighth from 14 starts since Rice and Antonino Miuccio claimed him for $20,000 on Oct. 6, 2012. The True North is Palace’s second graded stakes win, this one coming seven months after he won the Grade 3 Fall Highweight last November at Aqueduct.

Palace hadn’t run since finishing fourth as the favorite in the Grade 3 General George in February, a race in which he was found to have bled. Rice turned Palace out for 60 days and only had three works into the 5-year-old coming into this race. Moreover, he had to carry 124 pounds, spotting the field four to eight pounds.

“This horse was barely ready to run,” Rice said. “But he’s just that good. When he’s right, he’s just that good.”

Ortiz gave Palace a terrific ride, able to save ground from post 7 while Marriedtothemusic and Bakken dueled through a quarter in 22.13 seconds and a half-mile in 44.44.

Approaching the quarter pole, Ortiz guided Palace to the three path, and he was able to outrun Bakken in the final furlong to get the win. Palace, a New York-bred son of City Zip, ran six furlongs in 1:08.29 and returned $20.60 to win.

“I knew there was a lot of pace in the race, and I knew he had a chance to win because he can close, and that’s what happened,” Ortiz said. “He broke very sharp and was in perfect position. When I asked him to go, he went.”