Rossa Veloce dominates Correction Stakes; Atras win streak snapped at six
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Though Rob Atras fell short of equaling a long-standing New York Racing Association record for consecutive wins by a trainer, he had plenty of reasons to be pleased Saturday.
Atras, who had a six-race win streak snapped earlier on the card, sent out Rossa Veloce to an authoritative 5 1/4-length victory in the $100,000 Correction Stakes for fillies and mares.
For Atras, the win was his seventh from eight starters over three Aqueduct cards beginning with the first race on March 5. That race was won by Super Quality. That horse came back on just five days’ rest to be the last of four winners Atras sent out from as many starters on Friday’s card.
Atras improved his streak to six straight when the 3-year-old maiden Warman Road won Saturday’s opener. His six-race win streak ended when Jokemeister finished last of six in race 6, a $14,000 claimer.
According to available records, four trainers have won eight consecutive races on the NYRA circuit over the last 50 years. John Parisella did it in 1973, Angel Penna Sr. in 1982, Oscar Barrera in April 1983, and Edward I. Kelly in October 1983. More recently, John Kimmel (2008 at Saratoga) and Chris Englehart (2010-11 at Aqueduct) won seven straight races on this circuit.
“I lose way more than I win,” Atras said. “We obviously want to keep winning all the time. We went three weeks without winning a race, [had] seconds and thirds. We never got down. . . . This week, we just seemed to get the horses in the right spots, got the right trips, tracks, it happened to work out that way. That’s just how racing goes, you can’t get too down, you can’t get too high, you got to keep it level and hope for the best all the time.”
Atras plays the claiming game, where hoping for the best is a daily occurrence. He appeared to make a shrewd claim when he took Rossa Veloce for $32,000 last September. The Correction was Rossa Veloce’s fourth win in five starts for Atras and owner Robert Derr.
“I got to give full credit to him,” Atras said of Derr. “He really liked her. Sometimes I get a little gun shy when you seem a filly, or just a horse in general, going the other way – you’re not sure you really want to claim them – but he really wanted to take a shot on her.”
Rossa Veloce’s speed has been her best weapon, and Franco was intent on using it from the rail post Saturday. Franco got Rossa Veloce out of the gate quickly, and she had a half-length lead over of the pace-prompting Fouette under Kendrick Carmouche through a quarter in 23.28 seconds and a half-mile in 46.93 over a sealed, muddy track.
Turning for home, Franco had plenty of horse, put away Fouette, and opened up in the lane without facing a late challenge. Prodigy Doll, under Trevor McCarthy, rallied for second, 1 3/4 lengths ahead of Fouette. Easy to Bless was fourth, followed by I’m Buzzy, Secret Love, and Big Tentations.
Rossa Veloce covered the six furlongs in 1:11.16 and returned $2.90 as the 2-5 favorite.
“She’s fast but sometimes she breaks a step slow and then she goes, but today she broke so sharp and I think that was the key for the victory,” said Franco, who won just once Saturday after riding five winners Friday.
While Franco has taken command in the race for leading jockey at the winter meet – he leads Dylan Davis 57-47 with seven days left – Atras has moved into second in the trainer’s standings with 18 wins, seven behind Linda Rice.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.