Paul Pompa's grade 1 winner Connect added Belmont Park's $200,000 Westchester Stakes (G3) May 6 to his list of victories, which has now reached six out of eight starts.
The son of Curlin , making his season debut, also gave trainer Chad Brown and jockey Irad Ortiz their third score of the day at Belmont. They teamed up previously to win a maiden special weight and the Sheepshead Bay Stakes (G3T) with Sea Calisi.
"I thought (Connect) ran really, really well," Brown said. "He's been training forwardly and developed nicely from 3 to 4, since we gave him a little freshening, but how he ran today is especially encouraging. We'll see where we go from here, but today he ran great."
Virtual Machine was sent to the early lead, but Greenpointcrusader went along to challenge and set early fractions of :22.77 for the first quarter-mile and :45.85 for the half-mile, with Virtual Machine pressing the pace.
At the top of the turn, the field closed in on the leaders and Connect had momentum and the advantage over Frammento and Mohaymen, who was out wide in his first start since last August. In the stretch, Connect accelerated away to win by 4 3/4 lengths. Virtual Machine held on for second. The final time for the mile over a fast track was 1:36.49.
Frammento, who bided his time far behind the field, fought it out with Mohaymen for third but managed to get a half-length in front.
Connect paid $3, $2.50, and $2.10 across the board, while Virtual Machine paid $7.60 and $3.70 to place.
"He's a nice horse," Ortiz said. "He broke good and I just waited before the turn and went around everybody. I had some horse left. I asked him (in the stretch) and he went."
Connect, bred in Kentucky by Fox Straus KY, was a $150,000 purchase at the 2014 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Select yearling sale from the VanMeter Sales consignment.
The 4-year-old colt only raced once as a juvenile, finishing third in an Aqueduct Racetrack maiden special weight. He blossomed in his 3-year-old season, winning his first three starts of the year, which included the Curlin Stakes at Saratoga Race Course.
After finishing sixth in the Travers Stakes (G1) behind champion Arrogate, Connect went on to win the grade 2 Pennsylvania Derby over a field that included Gun Runner, Nyquist , and Exaggerator . He then nabbed a grade 1 victory in the Cigar Mile over Divining Rod.
Connect, out of the unraced Holy Bull mare, Bullville Belle, bumped his race record to 6-0-1 from eight starts and has earnings of $1,370,000.