Sunny Ridge edges Diamond King in Salvator Mile

The Servis brothers, Jason and John, finished first and second in the Grade 3, $150,000 Salvator Mile at Monmouth Park on Saturday as Sunny Ridge defeated Diamond King by three-quarters of a length.

Sunny Ridge, who was honored earlier in the day as the 2018 New Jersey-bred Horse of the Year, is trained by Jason and was bred and is owned by Dennis Drazin, the CEO of Darby Development, which operates Monmouth on behalf of the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association.

Diamond King broke sharply in the Salvator and vied for the early lead inside 45-1 Jeezum Jim. Diamond King took off that rival early on the backstretch and was taken to Jeezum Jim’s outside by jockey Frankie Pennington.

On the far turn, Diamond King easily took the lead with Hoffenheim moving up three wide and Sunny Ridge locked in behind them with jockey Jose Lezcano waiting for a hole to open.

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Diamond King had a clear lead entering the stretch, at which point Sunny Ridge finally found room and slipped through along the inside. He took the lead from Diamond King in midstretch and edged away to his final margin of victory.

“I waited as long as I could to make my move, and when I saw an opening on the rail I asked him to go,” Lezcano said. “He’s such a strong horse. He’s a Jersey-bred but he shows good horses can come from anywhere."

Sunny Ridge, the 8-5 favorite in the seven-horse field, paid $5.60. He was timed in 1:37.17 after Jeezum Jim and 2-1 Diamond King set fractions of 23.45 seconds, 46.82, and 1:11.38.

Sunny Ridge, a 6-year-old Holy Bull gelding, is now 7 for 25 with earnings of more than $1.3 million.

“He’s a poor man’s horse,” Servis said. “He bangs away every race and makes money. I never even thought about him as a Jersey-bred. When I got him as a 2-year-old I told Dennis I am going to make $1 million with this horse.”

Bal Harbour, the 7-2 third choice, completely missed the start from the outside post and spotted the field a handful of lengths. He ran a remarkable race to finish third, 2 1/4 lengths behind Diamond King after making a four-wide move on the far turn. With a better start, he may have won the race.