Good sipping
The Groom is Red wins the Champagne
Posted: Saturday October 10, 1998 11:25 PM
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Groom's man: Corey Nakatani rode The Groom Is Red to his third win in sixth starts AP |
NEW YORK (AP) -- The Groom Is Red made his stakes debut a splashing success Saturday in the Champagne at Belmont Park.
Out of the running when the field turned for home, The Groom Is Red shot down the stretch four horses wide to win the $500,000 stakes for 2-year-olds on a sloppy track.
Confessional thrashed 2-5 favorite Things Change by 10 1/2 lengths in the $400,000 Frizette for 2-year-old fillies.
The two races were part of the five-stakes Breeders' Cup Preview card that featured the $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup.
Ridden by Corey Nakatani, the Nick Zito-trained colt, owned by Boston Celtics coach Rick Pitino, The Groom Is Red took the lead from pace-setting Weekend Money passing the sixteenth-mile left and won by 2 3/4 lengths over Lemon Drop Kind, with Weekend Money another two lengths back.
"We call him Kid Dynamite," Zito said. "It was a wonderful performance by a wonderful horse."
The Groom Is Red was 12 lengths off the lead with about a half-mile remaining and looked beaten in the upper stretch. Then he came on for his third win in sixth starts. He earned $240,000 and $15, $5.60 and $3.60 after racing the 1 1-16-mile on a sloppy track in 1:42 4-5.
Lemon Drop Kid returned $3.70 and $2.70. Weekend Money paid $3.20 after finishing ahead of his stablemate Prime Directive. Completing the finish were Tactical Cat, Aly's Alley and Medievil Hero.
"It was a question of whether she'd handle the racetrack and the distance," said Bill Mott, who trains Confessional for Josephine Abercrombie's Pin Oak Stable.
She answered both questions emphatically.
After giving up the lead to Things Change with a little less than a half mile remaining, took it back quickly, then drew away in the stretch to win in 1:42 4-5.
Ridden by Jerry Bailey, Confessional paid $14.40, $3.60 and $2.10 for her second win in five starts and her first in a stakes. Things Change, ridden by Jose Santos, winner of three of her four previous starts, two of them stakes, returned $2.40 and $2.10.
Pico Teneriffe returned $2.10 after finishing 18 lengths behind Things Change and ahead of Call Me Up and What a Windfall.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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