Spoken Fur spurts away

ELMONT, N.Y. - Now, trainer Bobby Frankel's got himself a 3-year-old filly to add to his embarrassment of riches.

Spoken Fur, who has been in Frankel's care for just three weeks, rolled to a 5 1/4-length victory in Saturday's Grade 1, $300,000 before a crowd of 14,055 at sun-splashed Belmont Park.

Yell, the 7-5 favorite, stuck behind horses for most of the race, got up for second, three-quarters of a length ahead of Final Round. Virgin Voyage, Roar Emotion, and Rhumb Line completed the order of finish.

The victory was the 30th graded stakes victory of the year - 12th in a Grade 1 - for Frankel, who has won the Eclipse Award the last three years. In the last three weeks just at Belmont, Frankel and jockey Jerry Bailey have teamed to win the Belmont Stakes, Ogden Phipps Handicap, and Mother Goose.

John Amerman, a former chairman and CEO of Mattel Inc., purchased Spoken Fur privately from Kentucky-based trainer Austin Smith after she won her third straight race, a one-mile, second-level allowance race at Churchill Downs May 21. She arrived in Frankel's barn June 6 and worked three times leading up to this race.

"I had a feeling she'd run a good race," Frankel said. "My guys did a nice job with her. She's worked very well. It wasn't the toughest bunch of horses in the world, but she won nicely."

After breaking sharply, Spoken Fur was reined in by Bailey and she stalked the pace while on the far outside in fourth position. Roar Emotion, who veered out at the break, set the pace, hounded by Rhumb Line. The two ran a half-mile in 46.54 seconds.

Bailey guided Spoken Fur three wide around the turn, and when he asked her to run turning for home, Spoken Fur opened up rapidly. Spoken Fur, a daughter of Notebook, covered the nine furlongs in 1:50.41 over a fast track and returned $11 to win.

"I had watched a few tapes of her and it looked like her rider was taking her back off the pace so when we broke, I just let her relax," Bailey said. "Turning for home, I saw I had Johnny [Velazquez on Yell] pinned and figured that was a good time to open up.'

Frankel said he would consider running Spoken Fur back in the 12-furlong Coaching Club American Oaks July 19. If Spoken Fur could win the Coaching Club and the Alabama Aug. 16 at Saratoga, she would earn her connections a $2 million bonus.

Tremont: Heckle wires

Heckle made amends for his fourth-place finish as the favorite in last month's Three Chimneys Juvenile on Kentucky Derby Day by running six rivals off their feet to win Saturday's Grade 3, $110,200 Tremont Stakes by 3 1/4 lengths at Belmont Park.

Adage, trained by D. Wayne Lukas, rallied up the rail to get second by one length over stablemate Hasslefree. Completing the order of finish were Pretty Wild Again, Korsakoff, 6-5 favorite Best to Be King, and Snow Eagle.

In the Three Chimneys, Heckle was coming back just two weeks after equaling the track record winning his maiden at Keeneland. He was bounced around in the early stages of the Three Chimneys. Pletcher deduced the horse had displaced his palate in the race.

Equipped with a tongue tie for the first time, Heckle, breaking from post 7 under John Velazquez, outsprinted three rivals to the lead, set fractions of 22.24 seconds, 45.64, 57.96, and covered 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:04.70 under a drive. Heckle returned $7.90 as the second choice.

Heckle, owned by Dogwood Stable, may run in the Sanford July 24 at Saratoga, Pletcher said.

Mike Lee: Bossanova dominates

Bossanova used his speed and class to romp to a 13 1/4-length victory in the $117,000 Mike Lee Stakes. Acceptable Venture rallied for second, 6 1/4 lengths ahead of Limone Forte.

Bossanova, a son of Pine Bluff, was making his first start against New York-breds and first for trainer James Bond. Under Edgar Prado, Bossanova quickly sped to the lead and carved out fractions of 22.65 seconds, 45.47, 1:10, and covered the seven furlongs in 1:22.93. Bossanova, owned by Lorraine and Rod Rodriguez, returned $3.40 as the favorite.