Repo Rocks Reverts to Winning Form in Westchester
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Photo: Coglianese Photos/Susie Raisher
Repo Rocks wins the Westchester Stakes at Belmont Park
When Repo Rocks ' four-race winning streak came to an end with a runner-up finish in the Carter Handicap (G1), trainer Jamie Ness knew exactly who to blame.
"I think I pushed him too hard for the Carter. I don't have many opportunities to train for a grade 1 race so I pushed him too hard and ran a flat horse," Ness said. "I'll take that one on the chin."
Following that April 8 loss at Aqueduct Racetrack, Ness gave the 5-year-old Tapiture gelding an easy week at his Fair Hill barn followed by an April 28 breeze and then entered him in the May 5 $175,000 Westchester Stakes (G3) at Belmont Park.
This time there was no blame to pass around.
Reverting to top form in the mile stakes, Double B Racing Stables' Repo Rocks took charge approaching the quarter pole and rolled to a 5 1/4-length score over grade 1 winner Zandon , who was making his 4-year-old debut for trainer Chad Brown.
"I think we saw the real Repo Rocks today," Ness said. "We got a true showing. Everything went right."
Off Repo Rocks' fourth win in five starts—all of them stakes—Ness is once again contemplating a grade 1 date for his gelding: the Metropolitan Handicap (G1) on the June 10 Belmont Stakes (G1) card.
"The Met Mile is on our horizon. I think he likes the sweeping turns at Belmont and the mile distance," Ness said.
Ridden by Ruben Silvera, Repo Rocks ($12) was timed in 1:34.96 on a fast track.
Bred in Virginia out of the Not For Love mare Hawaiian Love by Mrs. C. Oliver Iselin III, Repo Rocks was claimed for $40,000 and has nine wins in 35 starts with earnings of $795,871.
Jeff Drown's Zandon, the 2022 Blue Grass Stakes (G1) winner and 3-5 favorite, rallied wide from sixth in the field of seven to finish second in his first start since a fourth-place finish in the Dec. 3 Cigar Mile Handicap (G1).
"Usually a horse might need a race off a layoff but I thought he ran a great race," said Dylan Davis, who rode the son of Upstart for the first time. "The other horse (Repo Rocks) had more. He couldn't close on him."
Chiefswood Stables Limited's Weyburn , a son of Pioneerof the Nile trained by Jimmy Jerkens, was three-quarters-of-a-length back in third.
Jerkens said he will be leaving May 20 to train in Saudi Arabia.
Higher Truth Tops 1-2 Finish for Brown in Sheepshead Bay
Earlier on the card, Brown continued his dominance of the $186,000 Sheepshead Bay Stakes (G2T) as Higher Truth and jockey Manny Franco topped a 1-2 finish for the four-time Eclipse Award winner.
The win was Brown's third in four years and sixth overall in the stakes.
Owned by Jeff Drown, Team Hanley, and Mike Ryan, Higher Truth led throughout and posted a 1 3/4-length victory over Brown stablemate Virginia Joy , a 14 1/4-length winner of last year's Sheepshead Bay.
Higher Truth wins the Sheepshead Bay Stakes at Belmont Park
Higher Truth, a 5-year-old Galileo mare, posted her fourth win in 10 career starts. After racing only once in 2022, she was coming off a game second in the March 4 The Very One Stakes (G3T) at Gulfstream Park.
Out of the Duke of Marmalade mare Wannabe Better, she was bred in Ireland by Churchtown House Stud and was bought by Ryan for $645,273 from the breeders' consignment at the 2019 Tattersalls October Yearling Sale.
Virginia Joy, a 6-year-old Soldier Hollow mare owned by Peter Brant, was second in the field of four. The multiple grade 2 winner was 1 1/2 lengths ahead of Atomic Blonde , a 4-year-old filly by The Grey Gatsby trained by Christophe Clement and owned by Michaela Faust, West Point Thoroughbreds, and Winters Equine.
The 6-5 favorite ($4.50) covered the about 1 3/8-mile distance in 2:23.57 on good turf for a new course record.
Video: Westchester S. (G3)