Demarchelier Stays Perfect in Pennine Ridge

So far the plan has worked to perfection for Demarchelier.

It was after the son of Dubawi won his debut Nov. 21 at Aqueduct Racetrack that owner Peter Brant and trainer Chad Brown agreed that they had their turf horse for the Belmont Derby Invitational Stakes (G1T), down the road July 6 at Belmont Park.

Since then, everything has fallen into place like a set of dominoes.

Demarchelier scored in his first start at 3—an April 12 turf allowance at Keeneland—and June 1 he took another big step toward a grade 1 prize.

The bay colt improved his record to 3-for-3 as he prevailed in the $200,000 Pennine Ridge Stakes (G3T) at Belmont Park, a race captured by the past two winners of the Belmont Derby.

"It looks like the plan is coming together," Brown said. "Obviously, he's a top-quality horse. He's well bred and has been very well ridden each time (by Javier Castellano). It's exciting to have a horse headed to the Belmont Derby."

In a virtual repeat of his maiden victory, Demarchelier won by a neck over Juddmonte Farms' Seismic Wave. In their first meeting, he beat the Bill Mott-trained runner by a head.

Even better, since Demarchelier's original plans were formulated, the New York Racing Association established the Turf Trinity, a series of distance turf stakes starting with the $1 million Belmont Derby, a 1 1/4-mile test.

Afterward comes the $1 million Saratoga Derby Aug. 4 at Saratoga Race Course at 1 3/16 miles and the $1 million Jockey Club Derby Sept. 7 at Belmont Park at 1 1/2 miles, distances that certainly appear to be within Demarchelier's scope after he rallied from sixth in the field of seven 3-year-olds to take the 1 1/8-mile Pennine Ridge.

"I don't see any limitations as to how far he will run," Brown said. "He's very well bred."

The colt was purchased by Brant for $592,487 from the Newsells Park Stud consignment at the 2017 Tattersalls October Yearling Sale. He is out of the Sadler's Wells mare Loveisallyouneed, a full sister to group 1 winners Yesterday and Quarter Moon.

"We were fortunate to have Peter Brant step up and buy this horse on our first trip to Tattersalls. He bought us a nice colt who is perfect so far," Brown said. "Peter is very involved and very knowledgeable. We all work together as a team, and (bloodstock agent) Mike Ryan helped in picking him out. Peter is not just the guy who writes the checks. He knows what he's doing."

Brown sent out a second undefeated runner in Klaravich Stables' Value Proposition, who exited a 4 1/4-length maiden win April 27 at Belmont Park. After using a sharp burst of late speed to win his debut, the son of Dansili set the pace Saturday through splits of :24.53 and :49.27 but ran out of gas at the top of the stretch and faded to last as the 3-1 second choice.

"It was disappointing. He ended up on the lead," Brown said. "(Jockey Jose Lezcano) said he got keyed up in the post parade, and he had trouble reining him in. He had to go to the lead, which wasn't where we wanted him. It was just circumstances that developed that way. We'll have to go back to the drawing board with him, though we believe he's also very talented."

St. Elias Stable's Clint Maroon grabbed the lead as Value Proposition tired, but he could not fend off Demarchelier ($12.40), who was swung to the outside in the stretch by Castellano and took the lead with a sixteenth left.

"He's going in the right direction and has a good mind," Castellano said. "He's going to be good in the future."

Seismic Wave launched a strong rally from last but came up short at the wire.

"It was a fine trip. He broke well, and I just found myself at the back. He came with a nice run," said Joel Rosario, who rode Seismic Wave, the 7-2 third choice. "I thought for a second we were going to catch Javier, but that horse just kept on going. It was a good run."

Social Paranoia, the 2-1 favorite, was third, a length behind Seismic Wave.

Final time was 1:48.20 on a course rated good.

Video: Pennine Ridge S. (G3T)