Nerud 3-Year-Old Wins Again at Big A

When Final Chapter, owned and bred by 102-year-old John Nerud, broke his maiden at Aqueduct Racetrack last month, it marked the ninth decade since Nerud's first winner as a trainer or owner.

Now he has taken it one step farther. What looked to be a nice useful New York-bred has now emerged as a potential stakes star. Final Chapter not only beat winners for the first time Feb. 26, he trounced them, winning by six widening lengths in a razor-sharp 1:11.15 for the six furlongs . By comparison, the other allowance/optional claiming race on the card two races earlier was run in 1:13 1/5.

What makes the ridgling so interesting is that he has now won two in a row going six furlongs, even though his sire, Thunder Gulch, and broodmare sire, Colonial Affair, both won the 1 1/2-mile Belmont Stakes (gr. I).

Final Chapter, unlike his maiden score when he won wire-to-wire, sat comfortably in third this time, two lengths off the :23.26 and :46.54 pace set by Breakin the Fever. When jockey Angel Cruz asked him, he blew by the pacesetter and quickly opened a clear lead, coming home his final quarter in a sharp :24 1/5 and final eighth in :12.40. The 3-2 favorite, Bullheaded Boy, was never a threat, finishing 1 1/2 lengths behind the runner-up in third.

"That was a very good race," said Nerud, who spent the afternoon playing gin at his club and then took a break to watch the race. "The jock was just hand-riding him. They've been running (six furlongs) in (1:13), (1:14), and (1:15), and he went in (1:11).

"I remember, when he was a foal at Sugar Maple Farm, they led him out from the paddock to the field, and the third time they did, he had no shank and was leading the mare. When he was a yearling at Barry Schwartz' farm, I convinced them to test the hearts of the yearlings on the farm and he had the slowest heartbeat of all of them."

Nerud wasn't sure where Final Chapter will run next. The horse's trainer, Mike Hushion, was not in attendance, being treated for anemia, according to Nerud.