Disco Partner Boogies to Repeat Win in Jaipur
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Photo: Skip Dickstein
Disco Partner wins the Jaipur Stakes at Belmont Park for a second straight year
Disco Partner was in his backyard executing a task that is most assuredly in his wheelhouse. So not surprisingly, when the rubber hit the road in the $400,000 Jaipur Invitational Stakes (G2T), it was the son of Disco Rico who ended up delivering the most effective blow in a field ripe with knockout artists.
It wasn't the record-setting exploit he uncorked in this spot last year, but Disco Partner's title defense in the six-furlong Jaipur Stakes on June 9 at Belmont Park nonetheless cemented how wicked he is over his home base. After rating between horses off the pace through fractions of :22.16 and :44.03, the 6-year-old Christophe Clement trainee came with his patented kick down the lane to catch Conquest Tsumani and take the 35th edition of the race by a length.
Disco Partner has won his last five starts over the Belmont course, including last year's Jaipur, which he won in 1:05.67, a world record for six furlongs on turf. Patricia Generazio's homebred sprint specialist opened the season with a third-place effort in the April 7 Shakertown Stakes (G2T) over a rain-soaked Keeneland course, an outing that set him up fitness-wise to repeat his top outing on the Belmont Stakes undercard.
Sent off as the 3-2 betting choice in the eight-horse field, Disco Partner bided his time under jockey Irad Ortiz Jr., settling in fifth just to the outside of Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T) winner Stormy Liberal, as his stablemate and fellow Generazio homebred Pure Sensation held the advantage over Conquest Tsunami down the backstretch.
Coming into the head of the lane, Disco Partner angled out farther and took aim at the fistful of targets still in front of him. It was game over from there, with the gray/roan horse gunning his way to the front and hitting the wire in 1:06.74 over a course rated firm to earn his second graded stakes score.
"He broke so good and sharp and put me in a good spot," Ortiz said. "I held him together, and in the midpack, I made my move and got him in the clear. … In the stretch, he took off.
"He always tries hard. He is a nice horse, and it's nice to see him back from his layoff after his race in Keeneland, where he didn't have a good race on the turf—he wasn't comfortable on the soft turf."
Conquest Tsunami held for second after tracking in that spot throughout, with Pure Sensation—who bested Disco Partner in the 2016 Jaipur—a head back in third despite grabbing a quarter, according to Clement. Holding Gold edged Pocket Change by a nose for fourth. Stormy Liberal never fired and finished sixth.
"(Stormy Liberal) looked like he was a little flat, so I'm going to give him a little break and freshen him up for the Breeders' Cup," said Peter Miller, trainer of both Stormy Liberal and Conquest Tsunami.
Bred in New York out of the Numerous mare Lulu's Number, Disco Partner improved his record to 10 wins from 23 starts and bolstered his bankroll to $1,153,810. He was third in last year's Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint, beaten just a half-length by Stormy Liberal, and has only been worse than fourth twice in his career.
"My first feeling when you win these kind of races, it's a great credit to Mr. and Mrs. Genarazio," Clement said. "They have a wonderful program, and they are great owners and breeders to work for. I'm just a lucky guy to train those kind of horses."