Harpers First Ride Upsets Owendale in Pimlico Special
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Photo: Skip Dickstein
Jockey Angel Cruz reacts after guiding Harpers First Ride to victory in the Pimlico Special at Pimlico Race Course
Harpers First Ride does not have the kind of early speed that jumps off the page.
In his past 10 races, only once was he in front during any of the first three calls.
But when opportunity knocked in the $250,000 Pimlico Special Stakes (G3), jockey Angel Cruz and Harpers First Ride were delighted to answer the call.
Taking the lead at the start of the Oct. 2 stakes at Pimlico Race Course, with 3-5 favorite Owendale alongside him for most of the trip, MCA Racing Stable's Maryland-bred son of Paynter cruised along on the rail until he darted clear in the stretch and registered a two-length victory in the 1 3/16-mile stakes.
"I feel so happy and blessed," Cruz said. "I took the lead really easy and slowed it down. Nobody wanted to go."
Cruz did, and it certainly paid off.
The victory was the second straight and fourth in the past six starts for Harpers First Ride, who was exiting a 3 1/4-length victory in the Sept. 5 Deputed Testamony Stakes for trainer Claudio Gonzalez. While making his first start at Pimlico, the Laurel Park-based 4-year-old gelding collected his first graded stakes win.
For Gonzalez, it was his second graded stakes win of the year, coming on the heels of a victory by Fly On Angel in the Charles Town Oaks (G3). It also continued a stellar year for the Mid-Atlantic-based Gonzalez, who has been training since 2012. He is 11th among trainers with 113 wins this year.
Breaking from the outside post in a field of seven, Cruz put Harpers First Ride on the lead through an opening quarter-mile in :24.41. Owendale, racing outside of the gelding, grabbed a head lead after a half in :48.41, but Harpers First Ride regained a short lead over Owendale and the two battled through the stretch until Cruz and his mount took charge in the final furlong.
Sent off at 5-1, Harpers First Ride ($13) covered the distance in 1:54.97 in the 50th Pimlico Special as Cruz collected his third graded stakes win and first since 2016.
"This is special because it's home," Cruz said.
Harpers First Ride and his connections celebrate their Pimlico Special victory
Bred by Sagamore Farm out of the Tiz Wonderful mare Polyester, Harpers First Ride is her first graded stakes winner from three foals to race. She has also produced a Practical Joke yearling colt and a Bolt d'Oro weanling colt.
A winner of eight of 14 starts, Harpers First Ride lifted his earnings to $422,080.
"Every race, he gets better and better," Gonzalez said.
For Rupp Racing's Owendale, the Pimlico Special brought him back to the site of his third-place finish in the 2019 Preakness Stakes (G1), and though he was second, the result had to be viewed as a disappointment, considering his odds-on price and a competitive 1 3/4-length loss to By My Standards in the Alysheba Stakes Presented by Sentient Jet (G2) in his previous start.
The son of Into Mischief trained by Brad Cox finished a half-length ahead of Hillwood Stable's Cordmaker, a Curlin gelding trained by Rodney Jenkins.
Winchell Thoroughbreds' Tenfold, who won the 2019 Pimlico Special, was fourth.