ELMOTN, N.Y. – Yibir was last of seven and, to hear jockey Jamie Spencer tell it, was racing “lazy” throughout the first nine furlongs of Saturday’s $1 million Jockey Club Derby Invitational at Belmont Park. But approaching the quarter pole, when Spencer swung Yibir out into the clear, the horse woke up in a hurry, passing his six rivals in less than an eighth of a mile as he roared from last to first to win the Jockey Club Derby by 2 1/2 lengths. Soldier Rising got up for second by a neck over longshot Slicked Back. Bolshoi Ballet, who won the Belmont Derby Invitational and was the favorite on Saturday, finished fourth. Tokyo Gold, Step Dancer, and Tango Tango Tango completed the order of finish. Experienced was scratched. For Yibir, a gelding by Dubawi trained by Charlie Appleby for Godolphin Racing, the win was his second straight and fifth from 11 career starts. It earned him a fees-paid berth into the $4 million Breeders’ Cup Turf on Nov. 6 at Del Mar, though he will return home to England while his connections contemplate whether to try that race or not. :: Play Belmont with confidence: Get DRF Past Performances, Picks, Clocker Reports, and Betting Strategies. Yibir was held in high regard by his connections early in the year, a potential prospect for the Cazoo Derby at Epsom in June. “But his mind quite wasn’t on the job,” said Chris Connett, assistant to Appleby. Connett and Spencer said Yibir wasn’t totally focused on his job Saturday either, paying more attention to the assistant starter in the gate when the doors opened, thus breaking last. “Our horses aren’t used to having handlers with them, and he doesn’t miss much, he saw the handler and he was watching that rather than jumping when the gate opened,” said Spencer, who won this race in 2019 aboard Spanish Mission. “We were going to be back a bit anyway. Charlie said ride him with confidence. If he relaxed in the race and the race went smoothly he was going to have a good chance on his European form.” Yibir was within five lengths of the lead established by Tango Tango Tango and pressed by Slicked Back. When Spencer swung him into the clear turning for home, Yibir took off and was in front inside the three-sixteenths pole. Though he shifted in a path or two, he was clear of his competitors and kept on to the line. Yibir, a full brother to multiple Group 1 winner and 2018 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf runner-up Wild Illusion, covered the 1 1/2 miles in 2:26.23 and returned $7.30. “I passed them too quick,” Spencer said. “My plan was to attack going to the eighth pole. I was last and all of a sudden I passed them all.” Added Connett: “When he puts his mind to it, he can really shift. He has a change of gear and will run all the way to the line.” Solider Rising, second in the Saratoga Derby in his first start in the United States, ran well to be second again under Irad Ortiz Jr., who said he wished he could have gotten into the clear sooner than he did. “He takes some time to get going,” Ortiz said. “When I finally got out of there and into the clear it was at the top of the stretch, the other horse was full of run already.”