Scalene goes to front and stays there in Bertram F. Bongard Stakes
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ELMONT, N.Y. – Javier Castellano knew in the post parade of Friday’s Bertram F. Bongard Stakes that Scalene had run on his mind. So, the Hall of Fame jockey let his colt run.
After breaking a step slow from the gate, Scalene took Castellano to the front and in front the duo stayed, turning aside a mild bid from race favorite Calling Mr. Mo and bounding clear to a 3 1/4-length victory in the $175,000 Bongard for New York-bred juveniles at Belmont Park.
Road Show rallied from third to get second by a neck over Calling Mr. Mo, who was 2 1/4 lengths clear of Solder’s Glory.
The win was the second in as many starts for Scalene. The first one came from off the pace Aug. 21 at Saratoga. Castellano was aboard Scalene that day. He felt a different horse Friday.
“I warmed him up without the pony and I said ‘Oh my God, that horse is going to go to the lead,’ ” Castellano said. “I tried to take him back, but how am I going to do that?”
With the gate positioned well off the rail, Road Show ducked in from his rail post and Scalene took advantage going down toward the inside and got to the lead through a quarter in 22.73 seconds and a half-mile in 45.91 while maintaining a half-length advantage over Calling Mr. Mo.
Turning for home, Scalene was still wanting to run, edging away gradually over a stalled Calling Mr. Mo.
Road Show “ducked in, he went inside. We had plenty of room, wide open. He saw daylight, he took off. He took off in a good way. He settled beautiful the first quarter, and I think that was the key to win the race,” Castellano said. “He waited for horses and when I asked him a little bit, he took off.”
Scalene, a son of Bolt d’Oro trained by Robert Ribaudo for Marc Keller, covered the 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:15.99 over the Widener Turf and returned $7.48 as the second choice.
Ribaudo said he was surprised to see Scalene on the front end.
“How did he go to the lead? That wasn’t my plan,” Ribaudo said. “Good riders don’t need instructions, so it’s a good thing I didn’t give him any instructions. . . . You got so much room from the gate to the inside rail when they set the gate up on the outside fence. It looked like a European race with all that room and everybody moving to the rail.”
Ribaudo said Scalene would be pointed to the $175,000 Notebook Stakes going a mile on Nov. 1.
Joseph A. Gimma
Going down the backside and into the far turn of the $175,000 Joseph A. Gimma Stakes, Manny Franco, aboard heavily favored Extravaganzoo, had three horses in front of him, two outside of him.
It made for some anxious moments for those who backed the filly at odds of 2-5. But turning for home, when room opened in between Cafe Rose and Boomesherang, Franco had plenty of horse underneath him to seize the opportunity. Once clear, Extravaganzoo took off and reeled in pacesetting Legacy Lady to win the Gimma for New York-bred juvenile fillies by 2 3/4 lengths. It was 1 1/4 lengths back to Tiger Line in third.
“She broke okay, the horses that I thought were going to be in front of me were in front of me then they backed up the pace a little, that’s why I had to grab her a little bit,” Franco said. “But I was really happy because she was traveling well. It was a matter to get the hole. When she saw daylight, she just went. I was happy about that.”
Extravaganzoo, a daughter of Golden Pal, covered the 6 1/2 furlongs over the inner turf in 1:15.77 and returned $2.96 as the favorite.
Extravaganzoo is owned by Bob Edwards’s e Five Racing and trained by George Weaver.
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