Transparent sets track record in return
ELMONT, N.Y. – Alpha has tailed off. Romansh and Long River have disappointed. But on Thursday, a new player emerged among Godolphin Racing’s older male division.
Transparent, unraced in the United States since a fourth-place finish in last year’s Pennsylvania Derby, came off an eight-month layoff to set a track record at Belmont Park, winning a second-level allowance race by 1 1/4 lengths. His final time of 1:39.22 for 1 1/16 miles eclipsed the mark of 1:39.38 set by Birdrun in 2009.
Yes, Belmont’s main track Thursday was very fast, but Transparent had not raced since January, when he finished fourth in a stakes at Meydan in Dubai.
“He had a couple of little issues,” trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said. “When he came from Dubai, he went to Lexington, which is the norm, then he came to us on June 11. He trained great since he came back. Work tab was great, galloping great, nice horse.”
Transparent’s claim to fame in the United States came in July 2013, when he was disqualified from victory in the Curlin Stakes. He later would finish ninth in the Travers and fourth in the Pennsylvania Derby.
Breaking from the outside post Thursday under Irad Ortiz Jr., Transparent pressed the pacesetting Cease before drawing alongside around the turn and edging clear late.
“Last year, we were always concerned about covering up because he wouldn’t finish if he was free-running,” McLaughlin said Friday. “But yesterday there was no chance to cover him up. We talked about it, and I told Irad, ‘You’re outside and in the clear, you’re going to be close. He’s fresh, just try to go as easy as you can.’ ”
McLaughlin said there is no definitive plan for Transparent but that one race he could be considered for is the Grade 2, $200,000 Fayette at Keeneland on Oct. 25.