Uncle Benny looking like his old self in Allied Forces win

Uncle Benny rebounded from a troubled seasonal debut last month in Saratoga to win Sunday’s $100,000 Allied Forces Stakes for 3-year-olds by 1 3/4 lengths at Belmont Park.

Chilly in Charge, the longest shot in the field at 34-1, rallied from well back to be second, a nose in front of Pulsate.

The start of the Allied Forces was delayed after both Mucho and No Bang No Boom broke through the starting gate before the official start of the race. No Bang No Boom unseated jockey Dylan Davis and ran off and was scratched. Davis was not injured.

Mucho did not unseat Joel Rosario, but he became a bit hot before being reloaded.

When the race started, Mucho set the pace, running a quarter in 22.50 seconds and a half-mile in 45.29 while being hounded by Elektronic. Manny Franco was saving ground in sixth position on Uncle Benny before guiding him to the four or five path approaching the quarter pole.

Mucho and Elektronic kept their duel until inside the eighth pole, when Mucho began to give way. Elektronic had the lead for a stride or two before Uncle Benny took over and edged clear.

Uncle Benny, a son of Declaration of War owned by Beach Haven Thoroughbreds, covered the six furlongs over firm turf in 1:08.57 and returned $4.80 to win.

Franco, riding Uncle Benny for the first time, warmed the 3-year-old up strong in the post parade because of his tendency to break slowly.

“I wanted to make sure today he breaks and see how the race develops and keep him out of trouble because I thought I was on the best horse in the race,” Franco said.

A year ago, Uncle Benny won the Futurity over this course to earn a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint. Instead, Uncle Benny ran in the Juvenile Turf at a mile and just missed, losing by a half-length to Line of Duty.

Uncle Benny’s 3-year-old debut was delayed by a bone oedema and when he returned to the races he had a difficult trip when finishing seventh in the Mahony Stakes at Saratoga last month. Sunday, he broke clean and polished off the race as if he would prefer to run longer.

“He’s probably better longer,” trainer Jason Servis said. “We’re just trying to get him stated for the year.”

With limited options to run against 3-year-olds, Servis may try to stretch Uncle Benny out to 1 1/8 miles in the Grade 2, $400,000 Hill Prince at Belmont on Oct. 5.