Run Curtis Run goes last to first in Carle Place
Run Curtis Run closed from last to catch 25-1 shot Grooms All Bizness en route to a 1 1/2-length win Sunday in the $120,000 Carle Place at Belmont at Aqueduct.
Grooms All Bizness held second by a length over favorite and third-place finisher Outlaw Kid.
The Carle Place was a six-furlong turf race for 3-year-olds. The course was listed as firm.
Run Curtis Run ($8) found himself much farther off the pace than usual Sunday following some interference at the start, and settled behind the field with That’s Right setting fractions of 22.45 seconds for the opening quarter and 45.78 for the half-mile. Grooms All Bizness moved to the fore from there, as Run Curtis Run advanced on the turn and took the lead nearing the wire. The winner covered the distance in 1:09.43.
Jose Ortiz was aboard Run Curtis Run for trainer Mike Maker. The horse came into the Carle Place off a pair of graded stakes starts, running second in both the Grade 3 Quick Call in July at Saratoga and the Grade 2 Franklin-Simpson in September at Kentucky Downs.
“I was squeezed very hard,” Ortiz said of the start in comments provided by the New York Racing Association press office. “It was a terrible trip and definitely not what we wanted to see out of the gate. But I felt like my horse was running with better horses and I gave him his shot to show off his class, and he did. It’s very hard to close on this soft ground of the outer turf, and he did. That shows that he was the best horse in this race by far.”
Run Curtis Run is a son of Summer Front who races for the partnership of Michael Dubb and Michael Caruso.
“This horse has run his heart out,” Dubb told NYRA. “He’s been a longshot in his last three races and has gotten no respect. He’s been a bridesmaid each time. I thought today, he would like being back in New York and the six furlongs. The horses he had been facing, he was getting a bit of class relief today, but this was still a nice group of horses. I thought it all might gel together today. We got jostled at the break and Jose, being the great jockey that he is, took his time and didn’t panic. He came through and was easily the best today.”
Run Curtis Run has now won 3 of 10 starts and earned $317,300. The Carle Place was the second stakes win of his career behind the Rick Violette against fellow New York-breds last summer at Saratoga.
Plans going forward are to be determined after conversations with Maker, said Dubb.
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