No Distortion Punches Haskell Ticket

Brereton Jones' homebred No Distortion made short work of a short field in the $100,000 Long Branch Stakes July 9 at Monmouth Park, and punched his ticket to the July 31 Haskell Invitational (gr. I) with an authoritative 3 1/4-length victory. 

The 3-year-old son of Distorted Humor   took a long road to stakes success, with 10 prior starts under his belt and an existing 2-2-2 record headed into his first black-type engagement. With just four rivals to beat in the 1 1/16-mile event, he was keen from the break to go on under jockey Gabriel Saez.

"We always thought he was a good horse—he's a half-brother to champion Proud Spell—but the thing is, he didn't think he's a good horse," trainer Larry Jones said.

There was no question this time out for the chestnut colt, who sprinted up quickly from the outside post to engage pacesetting rival Tiz Long Gone. Those two clicked a quarter in :23.91 before No Distortion took over, running a half in :47.09. Unbridled Daddy loomed with an outside bid heading into the final turn, and those two separated themselves from the rest for three-quarters in 1:10.76. But No Distortion found another gear turning for home, and distanced his rival through a 1:36.09 mile en route to a clear victory.

"He came out of the gate running and I got into the good position right from the beginning," Saez said. "I was just trying to get him relaxed and keep him together around the first turn. Around the second turn, he really started to get it into gear. When it was time to get going, he just answered and got the job done."

The final time was 1:42.81 on a track rated good.

No Distortion returned $7.80, $4, and $3.20 at odds of 5-2. Unbridled Daddy paid $6 and $3, and Uncle Vinny got up for third, worth $3.40. Azar, the 6-5 favorite, was fourth, followed home by Tiz Long Gone to complete the order of finish. Someday Jones and Voluntario scratched; the latter ran fourth in the Dwyer (gr. III) at Belmont Park.

The winner, bred in Kentucky out of the Langfuhr mare Pacific Spell, now sports a record of 3-2-2 from 11 starts, good for earnings of $142,480. He will take a big step up from his first stakes race to grade I company next out in the Haskell.

"The owner ran second in that race two years ago with Albano, and I know he'd love another crack at it," Jones said. "The way he ran over this track today, if he comes out good, we certainly want to come back for the Haskell."