Vision Perfect earns hard-fought victory in Woodhaven

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – When it became apparent that the inaugural $100,000 Woodhaven Stakes for 3-year-olds was going to come down to Made in Detroit and Vision Perfect, David Donk, the trainer of Vision Perfect, said he would have been content to finish second.

“The horse on the inside was running in Florida,” Donk said. “The bottom line is they got a conditioning advantage. I told Manny I was worried he was going to run out of training.”

Manny was jockey Manny Franco, and while Franco said he felt Vision Perfect getting tired, he also felt the horse fighting on. In the end, Vision Perfect outfought Made in Detroit to the wire to win the Woodhaven by a neck. Made in Detroit finished second by 1 1/2 lengths over Chief Kitten, who was checked hard in the stretch by jockey Irad Ortiz Jr.

“Game effort,” Donk said. “He didn’t have to win.”

Vision Perfect won for the third time in five starts. He ended his 2-year-old season with a victory in the Awad Stakes over Belmont’s turf course last Oct. 26. This was his first start since then.

Vision Perfect looked like he could be the primary speed in the race. But Franco wanted to sit off another horse and was content to let Made in Detroit have the early lead while sitting just off him through a quarter-mile in 24.81 seconds and a half-mile in 50.71.

Vision Perfect was within a half-length of Made in Detroit through the first half-mile before drawing on even terms with that rival midway around the turn. In the stretch, it seemed like Made in Detroit, under Junior Alvarado was getting the better of the two, but Vision Perfect came on again in the final strides.

Vision Perfect, a son of Pollard’s Vision owned by Robert Spiegel, covered the 1 1/16 miles in 1:46.33 and returned $6.20 as the slight 2-1 favorite.

“He finished good. When he feels the other horse, he comes back, but he got tired, a little bit tired, too,” Franco said. “At the sixteenth pole, I felt him getting tired, but he fought.”

Donk said Vision Perfect could run next in the $200,000 Pennine Ridge Stakes at Belmont on May 30.