Pat On the Back caps nice day for owner with Empire Classic win

ELMONT, N.Y. – Harold Lerner has already hit the lottery. So, he was not as disappointed as perhaps most were when his $40 worth of Mega Millions tickets did not hit for a billion dollars Friday night.

Instead, Lerner was quite content to hit it big on Saturday’s Empire Showcase Day card at Belmont Park. He and his partners won two of the eight stakes restricted to New York-breds, capped by Pat On the Back’s 1 1/2-length victory in the $300,000 Empire Classic.

Lerner, who owns Pat On the Back with Jack Cohen’s Nehoc Stables and AWC Stables, also teamed with Cohen to win the $150,000 Hudson Handicap with Runaway Lute.

Lerner and partners purchased both horses as yearlings in 2015 at the Saratoga preferred sale. Runaway Lute cost $77,000 while Pat On the Back brought $70,000.

A decade earlier, in 2005, Lerner got the means to buy horses when he and his wife Helen hit Mega Millions for $156.1 million.

“We talked about this at dinner last night,” Harold Lerner said after Pat On the Back’s win. “I said to her, it wouldn’t do anything personally to me” if they hit the lottery again.

Well, there’s always Tuesday.

In the interim, Lerner got a big kick out of his two victories Saturday, which came two months after Eskimo Kisses, a 3-year-old filly he and Cohen own with Andrew Rosen and Gainesway Stables, won the Grade 1 Alabama at Saratoga.

“I don’t know how many more cherries I can get on top of the sundae,” Lerner said. “We’re just really happy. The best part for me and my partners right now is we’re blessed with some horses that can run.”

Pat On the Back, trained by Jeremiah Englehart, has run extremely well in each of his last four starts. He got beat a nose by Diversify in the Commentator Stakes in May, then won the Saginaw here on July 13 before finishing second to Can You Diggit in the Evan Shipman at Saratoga on Aug. 20.

Pat On the Back stumbled leaving the gate on Saturday. But jockey Dylan Davis said the horse quickly recovered and put himself in a good stalking third. Hit It Once More moved up on the inside of Pat On the Back, putting him in fourth, but never more than 2 1/2 lengths off the pace established by Sea Foam and Mr. Buff.

Pat On the Back ranged up outside of Mr. Buff and Sea Foam at the quarter pole and took over from Mr. Buff at the eighth pole. Pat On the Back edged clear and was easily able to hold Can You Diggit at bay late.

Can You Diggit rallied from between horses to finish second by a length over Mr. Buff, who was third by a neck over Wine Not. He was followed, in order, by Control Group, Blugrascat’s Smile, Sea Foam, Hit It Once More, Evaluator, and Calculated Risker, who also stumbled badly at the break.

Pat On the Back, a 4-year-old son of Congrats, covered the 1 1/8 miles in 1:49.76 and returned $6.50 as the favorite.

“He took a pretty good stumble, he almost touched his nose to the dirt there,” Davis said. “I just let him get a couple of strides out of there, naturally he’s got some good speed, so he put himself in a good spot. He really likes this track, he handles it well, he just keeps moving forward with it.”

Lerner didn’t see the horse stumble live and, after watching the replay, credited Davis and the horse for overcoming it and capping off a great day.

“This guy, he’s a hard-knocking, working-class hero as far as I’m concerned,” Lerner said of Pat On the Back. “[Runaway Lute] is super high-strung. This guy is ‘All right, I’ll see you later.’ ”