Structor a game winner in Pilgrim Stakes

ELMONT, N.Y. – Structor overcame a wide trip to gut out a head victory in Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Pilgrim Stakes at Belmont Park and earn a shot at the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.

Parked four wide throughout the backstretch run under Irad Ortiz Jr., Structor hit the front in midstretch and despite tiring a bit late held on to defeat Andesite in the 1 1/16-mile turf race for juveniles. It was 1 1/4 lengths back to Our Country, who tried to rally from last while racing widest of all.

The win was the second in as many starts for Structor, a son of Palace Malice owned by Jeff Drown and Don Rachel and trained by Chad Brown.

In his debut, a 1 1/16-mile maiden race at Saratoga, Structor raced up close to a pedestrian pace and won by 1 1/4 lengths.

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Saturday, after breaking on top, Ortiz was content to sit midpack, about two lengths off the pace set by Tuggle, who ran a quarter in 23.77 seconds and a half-mile in 47.23. Ortiz made his move to contention turning for home and he was in front just outside the eighth pole. He was able to hold off an inside rallying Andesite.

“I didn’t want to be that wide, but I didn’t have any other option,” Ortiz said. “If I was going to drop in a little more I was going to have to keep taking back, I didn’t want to do that.”

Watching from the box seat area, Brown was worried that his horse might tire late and get caught.

“At the sixteenth pole, I thought he might get fatigued a bit because of how wide he was the whole way,” Brown said. “No fault of the jockey, just the post and some horses wedged their way in there early, got good spots ahead of him. I was proud of this horse for gutting it out.”

Brown believes Structor might enjoy the cutback to a mile in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf on Nov. 1 at Santa Anita.

Structor covered 1 1/16 miles over firm turf in 1:41.46 and returned $7 as the second choice.

Third-place finisher Our Country was followed, in order, by Famished, No Word, Maxwell Esquire, No Lime, The Gray Blur, and Tuggle.