Twenty Six Black finds course, pace to his liking in Harvey Pack Stakes
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Horacio De Paz got the pace scenario he was hoping for when he entered Twenty Six Black in Sunday’s $200,000 Harvey Pack Stakes at Saratoga. The late-striding New York-bred did the rest, finishing strongly down the center of the course to register a convincing 2 3/4-length victory over Possiblemente in the 5 1/2-furlong turf dash.
Twenty Six Black came into the Harvey Pack off a solid, fourth-place finish behind Reef Runner in the Grade 1 Jaipur here four weeks ago in a race decided over a very firm course that played against his late-running style.
But the course and the pace played to Twenty Six Black’s advantage in the Harvey Pack, especially the latter with last year’s wire-to-wire winner Bring Theband Home pressed on the lead through blistering early fractions from the outset by longshot Full Disclosure.
Twenty Six Black checked briefly shortly after the start, then was content to race in mid-pack under jockey Manny Franco while the leaders cut out splits of 20.90 seconds for the opening quarter and 43.54 to the half. The 8-5 favorite angled out a bit for clearance leaving the turn, easily ran down the leader to gain command inside the three-sixteenths pole, before drawing off with authority through the final furlong.
Possiblemente, winner of three of his previous four starts, raced just in front of the winner through the early going, continued willingly near the inside down the lane, but proved no match for Twenty Six Black while holding safe the 41-1 Coppola by three parts of a length to prove second-best.
Bring Theband Home, making his first start since a ninth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, shook off his early pursuer leaving the turn, but had little left for the stretch run, and weakened through the final furlong to finish sixth in the field of eight older turf specialists.
Twenty Six Black, a homebred son of War Dancer owned by his breeder Roger Cimbora Jr., won for the third time in nine starts over the local turf. He completed the distance in 1:00.49 over the firm footing and paid $5.30 as the favorite.
“We got the pace setup we were looking for,” De Paz said. “Manny actually had to check a little bit, I was concerned about it a little, but maybe it was the best thing that could happen because the pace was pretty fast. And then he comes with that run, so it was good.”
De Paz said the plan moving forward will be to continue to run Twenty Six Black at Saratoga throughout the summer.
“He likes it here, so we might as well keep trying those races. We ran in the Jaipur, skipped the New York-bred stakes last week, so we’ll probably go to the Troy ($300,000, Aug. 9) and maybe another New York-bred race later on,” De Paz said.
Twenty Six Black finished second behind Bring Theband Home in the 2025 edition of the Grade 2 Troy.
Trainer Joe Sharp said he was pleased with Possiblemente’s effort.
“He ran great, I’m really happy with that,” Sharp said. “Great trip, all positive, we’ve really seemed to have figured out his niche in the sprinting aspect. We just got outrun today (by the winner).”
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