Blazing Tiger takes over in the final strides to take the Carle Place, NYRA Photo
Brian Bohl
Blazing Tiger posted a slew of competitive efforts but did not notch his first win until his seventh start approaching the autumn of his 3-year-old year. On Saturday, the Miguel Clement trainee registered the first winning streak of his career after surging from the inside to go eye-to-eye with 8-5 favorite Doubting Thomas in the final sixteenth, emerging with a victory by a head in the $175,000 Carle Place, a six-furlong sprint for sophomores, at Belmont Park.
The sixth running of the Carle Place, moved from the inner turf to the Tapeta track, saw Blazing Tiger handle the synthetic surface with aplomb, with jockey Manny Franco rating his charge behind New York-bred stablemate Illmatic’s early pace.
Illmatic led the eight-horse field through the opening quarter mile in 23.35 seconds and the half in 46.64. Turning for home, Two Out Hero made a strong move under Kendrick Carmouche before jockey Jorge Ruiz tapped into Doubting Thomas’ reserve tank, taking command from the outside.
Not to be deterred, Franco found a seam to the inside and only needed minor left-handed encouragement when dueling in the shadow of the wire. Franco’s coaxing helped Blazing Tiger win in the final jumps, completing the course in 1:09.55.
Two Out Hero finished 3 1/4-lengths back of Doubting Thomas for third, with Illmatic, Attfield, Capanaparo, Intricate Spirit and Highwaytothemoon completing the order of finish. Big Destroyer and Oscar’s Hope scratched.
“That was the plan: don’t rush him early,” Franco said of his patient trip. “I think he likes to run like that. The longer you wait, the better he’ll finish for me. We found that out last time and it worked out perfect again.
“We know we want to be back of the pack, so I let them go, drop in, save ground, then do that move, outside to inside,” Franco added.
Blazing Tiger, campaigned by Adelphi Racing Club, High Five Racing, Corms Racing Stable, Ausable Dream Racing, Shelly Hume and Russell Hume, had finished second or third in five of his first six starts before graduating in a 6 1/2-furlong turf sprint versus elders at Belmont on September 24.
Clement, who saddled three contenders in the race with Intricate Spirit as well, said Blazing Tiger did well on a surface that he thought would be conducive to contenders with closing ability.
“I thought the Tapeta was going to favor him a bit because even though it was speed-favoring yesterday, I thought it was favorable towards closers [today],” Clement said. “I thought Manny rode him brilliantly, and this horse likes to run like that. He broke his maiden in a similar way – wait, come with one late run, make him a good closing turf sprinter. I think he runs better that way.
“We had huge expectations for him and he didn’t quite deliver being a maiden after six starts… similar sort of trip [to his maiden win], traffic trouble, come late in the stretch,” Clement continued. “I said [to Franco], ‘ride him exactly the same way, because he seems to be improving.’ We actually really like this horse to be fair, and we got it wrong for six starts, so we finally just got it correct now.”
Off at 8-1 on Saturday, he returned $18.50 on a $2 win bet. By increasing his career ledger to 2-4-1 in eight starts, the Kentucky bred upped his career bankroll to $255,950.
“He’s a talented horse and is finally putting it together,” said Matt Cutair of Adelphi Racing Club. “We liked him from the beginning and he just kind of always ran second, third, almost created his own trouble. We put Manny [Franco] on him the last few times and he seems to have figured the horse out and maybe the horse is maturing a bit. Miguel and his team have done a great job. Maybe he’s the kind of horse that wants to make the last run. He’s had some races where he’s made the lead early and he kind of gets a little lost.”
Doubting Thomas, trained by Michael Trombetta, followed his one-length win last out on October 10 here in the seven-furlong Bricks and Mortar with another black type effort.
“He ran big,” Ruiz said. “I thought I was winning the race but [Blazing Tiger] passed him on the inside. He got in a little trouble at the quarter the 10, but my horse was in good position. When I asked him at the quarter, he responded very well. Maybe if it was on the grass, he would’ve won the race or something different.”
Live racing resumes Sunday at Belmont Park with an eight-race card. First post is 12:40 p.m. Eastern.
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