Tribhuvan Scores Front-End Manhattan Upset
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Photo: Coglianese Photos/Chelsea Durand
There was no catching Tribhuvan in the Manhattan Stakes at Belmont Park
Sometimes a rabbit can be a predator.
Tribhuvan was seen as the pacesetter for his three stablemates, and he played his role brilliantly June 11 in the $750,000 Resorts World Casino Manhattan Stakes (G1T) at Belmont Park. The least respected of Chad Brown's four-horse tag team was sent off at 19-1 odds, meaning most people expected him to fade in the stretch.
The 6-year-old French-bred gelding flipped that script and made himself the undisputed star, coasting unchallenged through 1 1/4 miles under Manny Franco. Tribhuvan glided to a 3 1/2-length victory over another Brown runner, Adhamo . Nobody is surprised when Brown runs 1-2 in a 1 1/4-mile grass stakes, but rarely do his winners pay $40.20 and top a $189.50 Brown-Brown exacta.
"Did you bet my horse?" co-owner Michael Dubb said to a friend in the winner's circle. "I'm not really surprised by this. This horse loves the course, he gets brave on the lead, and he was training lights out."
Brown has won the Preakness Stakes (G1) twice, so he can't be pigeonholed as a grass trainer anymore. Yet when it comes to megabucks turf stakes, he's the undisputed king. Exhibit A: the Manhattan. In a race named for New York's most important borough, Brown casts a shadow to rival that of the Empire State Building. For the fourth consecutive year and the record eighth time overall, Brown took home the trophy.
Tribhuvan with Manuel Franco wins the Manhattan Stakes at Belmont Park
Franco nursed Tribhuvan through moderate fractions of :24.78 for a quarter-mile, :49.65 for a half, 1:13.24 for six furlongs, and 1:36.18 for a mile. He had plenty left for the stretch and surged the final furlong in :23.30 for a final time of 1:59.54 on a firm course.
"I knew I was the only speed in the race," Franco said. "I was really comfortable with the way I was traveling, and I felt great that I didn't see anybody behind me."
Gufo , the 2-1 favorite, was a length behind Adhamo. Completing the order of finish were Highland Chief , Brown's Rockemperor , Santin , Brown's L'Imperator , In Love , Channel Maker , and Tokyo Gold .
"Manny rode a great race," Brown said. "At the half-mile pole, I was yelling, 'Open up! Open up!' That's the way to ride this horse. You have to bottom out everybody behind him."
Tribhuvan ended a three-race losing streak dating to last fall, and his long odds stemmed from a fifth-place flop, beaten 10 lengths, in his 2022 debut May 7 in the Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic Stakes (G1T).
"The turf at Churchill Downs was wet that week, and certain horses didn't fire on it," Brown said. "Tribhuvan got an easy lead and just stopped. He didn't like it at all.
"He nearly held off a great horse in Domestic Spending in the Manhattan last year. He'd been training well, and we were confident that if he got somewhat loose in this race, at least he would be in the picture late."
It turned out to be a picture in the winner's circle.
It was the sixth win in 23 starts for Tribhuvan, a son of Toronado imported from France after the 2019 season. He earned $400,000 in the Manhattan, raising his total to $1,119,954 for Dubb, Madaket Stables, Wonder Stables, and Michael J. Caruso.
Tribhuvan and his connections in the winner's circle
Brown's Manhattan hardware collection began with Real Solution in 2014 and continued with Slumber (2015), Flintshire (2016), eventual Horse of the Year Bricks and Mortar (2019), Instilled Regard (2020), and Domestic Spending (2021).
Predictably, Brown dominated the weekend's grass stakes. On Thursday, he and Franco took the Wonder Again (G2T) with 2-5 favorite Consumer Spending . On Friday, Chad's latest superstar in the making, Bleecker Street , improved to 7-for-7 with a late surge for Irad Ortiz Jr. in the New York Stakes (G1T) for fillies and mares 4 years old and up. Earlier Saturday, Brown took the Longines Just a Game Stakes (G1T) with Regal Glory .
"No words," Dubb said. "I've never seen anything like it in my life."
This was the Manhattan's 150th edition, only four fewer than the Triple Crown finale contested an hour later. The New York Racing Association's website says the first Manhattan was staged at 1 1/4 miles on dirt at long-gone Jerome Park in 1867, also the year and the site of the first Belmont Stakes. The Manhattan, not run in 1897 or from 1909-13, has been raced at various distances from six furlongs to 1 5/8 miles.
It's been a 10-furlong turf fixture on the undercard of the Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1) since being moved from the Fall Championship Meet in 1994. That year Paradise Creek, trained by Bill Mott, set the stakes record of 1:57.79.
Tribhuvan is out of the unraced German-bred Mahendra, a daughter of Next Desert . He's the sixth of her seven foals, all starters with five winners.