Reb Five edges Throckmorton in Palisades Stakes
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Jose Ortiz got Reb Five off the rail and outside Throckmorton just in time to win the $300,000 Palisades Stakes on Sunday at Keeneland.
The 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint for 3-year-olds fell mainly to longshot closers after Monster flew out of the gate and set a breakneck pace, 21.05 for his first quarter-mile. So fast did he sprint that favored Schwarzenegger, a very fast horse in his own right, could not keep up, and everyone near the lead, save stalking Throckmorton, paid a price in the end.
Reb Five paid $34.36 to win after beating 7-1 Throckmorton by a neck. Azizam, a 20-1 shot, ran late for a distant third, with 42-1 Itza Lock, who drew in from the also-eligible list and rallied from last, rounding out a 50-cent superfecta that paid a little less than $19,000.
Reb Five, trained by Mark Casse for CJ Stables, debuted in a turf sprint at Woodbine last year, coming home an even fifth, then won two of four synthetic-surface starts at Woodbine and Turfway. Rebounding from a sixth-place finish in the Leonatus, his lone stakes start before Sunday, Reb Five rebounded with a three-length Turfway first-level allowance score that had him on point for Sunday’s showing.
Throckmorton, trained like Monster and Itza Lock by Jose D’Angelo, proved the only Palisades horse capable of holding up under the heat of the early pace. Throckmorton, Schwarzenegger, and Walter the Mason ran as a group a few lengths behind Monster into the turn and toward the three-furlong marker, while Ortiz had Reb Five glued to the fence around the bend, maintaining that course as long as possible. Reb Five gathered momentum approaching the three-sixteenths marker and came up the inside without a straw in his path until the eighth pole. There, Ortiz saw that tiring Monster had started drifting left, so he steered right to get outside the pacesetter and Throckmorton, who had inherited the lead.
“I knew my horse was making a very good run. The rail was open, but it wasn’t a very big space. I had to angle right,” Ortiz said. “The horse took care of the rest.”
Reb Five clocked 1:04.06 over a firm course, the top two proving much the best, Azizam 4 1/2 lengths out of second. Schwarzenegger, the 3-2 favorite, faded to seventh, passed late by second choice Sandal’s Song, who had a troubled trip in his first start since a third-place finish last June in the Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Reb Five, bred in Kentucky by Stoneriggs Farm, is by Vekoma out of Ill Will, by Palace Malice. On the fence, then off it, and up in time to capture the Palisades.
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