Rock N Rye rallies wide through stretch, wins Graduation

DEL MAR, Calif. - A 2-year-old sprint campaign is a prologue to what Rock N Rye can accomplish later in his career.

“He’ll be a miler and maybe farther,” jockey Umberto Rispoli said Sunday.

Rispoli rode Rock N Rye for the first time in Sunday’s $100,000 Graduation Stakes at 5 1/2 furlongs for California-breds at Del Mar. Sent off favored, Rock N Rye ($3.40) was third on the turn and rallied wide through the stretch to win by 4 1/4 lengths, finishing in 1:05.77. Rock N Rye earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 68.

Rispoli had Rock N Rye within a length of the front until the stretch.

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“At the quarter-pole, he switched leads,” Rispoli said. “He was the best horse in the race.”

Trip to Spain, the winner of a maiden special weight race at Golden Gate Fields in his only previous start on July 25, was second, 2 3/4 lengths clear of Mr. T’s Thirsty. Northvale Road was a distant fourth in the small field.

Fowler Blue and Thirsty Always were scratched. Thirsty Always was fourth in the Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes on Saturday.

The Graduation was Rock N Rye’s stakes debut and his second win in three starts for owners Terry Lovingier, Tom London, and Eugene Zondlo. Lovingier bred Rock N Rye.

The colt was listed as sold to Walther Solis for $52,000 at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton California Yearling Sale, but was essentially a buyback since Solis trains for Lovingier.

Rock N Rye has earned $100,920.

The first three finishers of the Graduation are by Stay Thirsty, who stands at Lovingier’s California farm.

Trip to Spain was ridden by Kyle Frey, who claimed foul against Rispoli alleging interference in the stretch when Rock N Rye drifted to the inside after taking the lead. The stewards dismissed the objection.

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