Barkley Surges Late to Take Longacres Mile
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Photo: Reed Palmer Photography
Barkley wins the Longacres Mile at Emerald Downs
Rising Star Stable III's Barkley entered Aug. 12 as a multiple stakes winner at Emerald Downs, but it had been a little while.
Knocking heads with familiar rivals like Mach One Rules and Riser, the 5-year-old son of Munnings was winless in his last six stakes tries, dating to his score in the Governor's Stakes in May 2017. But the drought ended Sunday in Emerald Downs' premier event.
In his second try at the $200,000 Longacres Mile Handicap (G3), the chestnut with the striking white face put it all together, but there was a moment in the stretch where it appeared as though he might hold himself back.
On the wrong lead between the Blaine Wright-trained pair of Alert Bay and Oh Marvelous Me, the Howard Belvoir-trained Barkley lacked momentum under jockey Javier Matias, but with a little skip he got to the correct lead, and the race was decided after that.
A head lead with a furlong to run turned into a 1 1/2-length margin at the wire as favored Alert Bay finished a clear second but was no match for the winner. Barkley finished the distance in 1:34.93 to clinch Belvoir's third Longacres Mile victory. He won the race in 2009 with Assessment and in 2008 with Wasserman. Barkley finished fourth in the Longacres Mile in 2017.
"This is way up there (in career accomplishments), and I might need a parachute to get down," Belvoir said. "This is a good little horse. He was real slow about switching leads today, but once he did the race was over."
Kaabraaj played the role of pacesetter and set fractions of :23.47 and :46.08 through a half-mile, but Oh Marvelous Me poked a head in front and hit six furlongs in 1:09.98. Alert Bay, the 9-5 favorite, loomed wide late in the final turn while Barkley advanced on the inside, but Matias wisely angled his mount off the rail to set up his stretch rally.
"Whenever you have a short field things can happen," Matias said. "This time I think I rode a pretty smart race, and the horse proved himself today. He won the race."
Oh Marvelous Me held for third and was followed by Mach One Rules, Kaabraaj, and Conquest Windycity to complete the order of finish.
Bred in Kentucky by Candy Meadows, out of the Medaglia d'Oro mare Numero d'Oro, Barkley upped his earnings to $351,800 with his first graded victory and improved his record to 9-4-1 from 17 starts, all at Emerald Downs. The Longacres Mile was his sixth stakes win. He was a $21,000 purchase by Vicki Potter out of the 2014 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.