Senbei takes early lead, keeps it in Gold Fever Stakes

The New York-bred Senbei made a successful first foray into open company, outsprinting Provocateur for the early lead then holding on to win the $100,000 Gold Fever Stakes by a neck at Belmont Park on Sunday.

It was 2 1/2 lengths back to Runninsonofagun in third. Fluid Situation, Dance Code and Don’t Wait Up completed the order of finish in the field of six 3-year-olds.

Senbei, a son of Candy Ride, had gone 4 for 5 as a 2-year-old, all in races for New York-breds. Trainer Christophe Clement was torn between running in this race or waiting for the Mike Lee, a $125,000 stakes for New York-bred 3-year-olds here on May 30. Clement liked the six furlongs of the Gold Fever more than the seven-eighths of the Mike Lee.

Prior to the race, Clement said that Senbei’s speed is his weapon and he had Manny Franco use it from the outside post on Sunday. Senbei was hard-used by Franco to secure a one-length lead after running an opening quarter in 22.51 seconds. Don’t Wait Up was slightly second over Provocateur, the 7-5 favorite, who actually broke on top before settling for an inside stalking position under Irad Ortiz Jr.

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Senbei maintained his one-length advantage through a half-mile in 45.85 seconds as Provocateur took sole possession of second. Though Provocateur was trying to rally along the rail, he couldn’t get by Senbei, who held him off at the wire.

“He has speed out of the gate and we weren’t going to change anything today,” Franco told NYRA publicity. “I let him break out of there and do his thing. He got it done.”

Senbei, owned by Dean Reeves and Dr. Jerry Bilinksi, covered the six furlongs in 1:10.58 and returned $5.60 as the second choice.

“He’s a New York-bred, but he’s not just a New York-bred,” Clement told NYRA publicity. “He won a lot of races as a 2-year-old. He had the whole winter off. We brought him back and he trained very well.”

Clement noted that Senbei had trained with the 5-year-old Listentoyourheart, a New York-bred allowance winner at Belmont on Saturday.

Clement said he had no immediate plans for Senbei’s next start.