Zivo goes from last to first to win Commentator Stakes

ELMONT, N.Y. – On a Belmont Park main track that was very fast and more conducive to frontrunners than to closers, Zivo, the 6-5 favorite under Jose Ortiz, was last of 13 with three furlongs to run in the $200,000 Commentator Stakes, the centerpiece of a 10-race Big Apple Showcase card.

At the top of the stretch, Ortiz was able to guide Commentator off the inside and into the clear, but still with an eighth of a mile to run, there were still four lengths to make up on Big Business, who under Cornelio Velasquez had wrested the lead from Weekend Hideaway. But Zivo, who was riding a four-race winning streak entering the Commentator, furiously rallied while nine wide in the stretch and somehow got to the wire first, by a neck, over Big Business. It was three-quarters of a length back to Weekend Hideaway.

The victory was the third stakes win on the day for Ortiz, who would add his fourth win on the card in the nightcap aboard Distorted Beauty. Ortiz also won the $200,000 Critical Eye Stakes with La Verdad and the $125,000 Mike Lee Stakes with Captain Serious.

Ortiz said he was worried how the track was playing but liked the way his horse was traveling early.

“I was worried about the track, that it’s playing fast and to horses that got speed, but he relaxed very well,” Ortiz said. “When I asked him to run, we had a little traffic, but I keep coming little by little. When I made my move, he responded very well.”

Zivo, a 5-year-old son of True Direction owned and bred by Thomas Coleman and trained by Chad Brown, is now 8 for 14 in his career. He covered the mile in 1:34.11 and returned $4.70 as the favorite.

“The way the track was playing was definitely a concern,” said Cherie DeVaux, the assistant to Brown. “It would have been less nerve-wracking had he sat mid-pack because he did have a lot of traffic trouble coming down the stretch. Luckily, he got there in time.”

Big Business, who was 4 for 5 over the Belmont main track, had dueled on the lead with Weekend Hideaway but edged away from that one inside the sixteenth pole. Jockey Cornelio Velasquez felt his horse getting tired but was hoping he could hold on.

“I had pressure all the way. The horse that beat me was the favorite, but my horse ran a big one,” Velasquez said. “He got a little tired. It was a little far for him. I think the best distance for him is seven-eighths.”