A very determined Bo Cruz (Courtney Snow/Past The Wire)
The Past the Wire annual Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby seminar, the best in the game DETAILS HERE
Keeneland Press Release
LEXINGTON, Ky.— Roger Cettina, Brian Pagano, Patrick Grippo, Peter Martine and Bruno De Julio’s Bo Cruz, swept past pace-setting Richiesonaroll at the top of the stretch and drew off to a 2½-length victory over Minnesota Ready in the Commonwealth for 4-year-olds and up.
Trained by Al Stall Jr. and ridden by Jose Ortiz, Bo Cruz completed the 7 furlongs on the fast main track in 1:22.94. It is the second Commonwealth victory for Stall, who won the race in 2019 with Bobby’s Wicked One.
Richiesonaroll led the field of seven through fractions of :22.90 and :46.32 with Bo Cruz just to his outside. Bo Cruz reached level terms on the turn and then took charge entering the stretch and was not threatened through the lane.
A Keeneland sales graduate, Bo Cruz is a 4-year-old Kentucky-bred son of Creative Cause out of the Ghostzapper mare Quick Breeze. In posting his first graded stakes victory, Bo Cruz improved his record to 7-3-1-2 and increased his earnings to $340,550 with Saturday’s $181,350 check.
Bo Cruz returned $14.12, $5.60 and $3.68. Minnesota Ready, ridden by Tyler Gaffalione, returned $3.90 and $2.80 and finished 2 lengths in front of favored Wico (IRE), who paid $2.76 to show under Irad Ortiz Jr.
It was another neck back to Call Me Fast with Raise Cain, Richiesonaroll and Frat Pack following in order.
Racing continues Sunday with a nine-race program beginning at 1 p.m. ET that is highlighted by the $400,000 MiddleGround Capital Beaumont (G2) for 3-year-old fillies racing over the Beard Course of 7 furlongs, 184 feet. The MiddleGround Capital Beaumont is the afternoon’s eighth race with a 4:44 p.m. post time.
Quotes for the $300,000 Commonwealth (G3)
Al Stall Jr. (winning trainer of Bo Cruz): “It was an experiment (cutting back to 7 furlongs), obviously, but it worked. We just had a gut feeling, watching him train and the way he’s built, that 9 furlongs might not be his game, so let’s go all the way back. There’s a lot of opportunities in this neck of the woods all summer long – seven-eighths and 1-turn miles – so we took a chance. He always leaves there running. Sometimes he outdoes himself and stumbles a bit. But he didn’t outbreak himself today. He was on his toes and put himself in the right spot. We learned a lot, and the experiment really worked well for us.”
Jose Ortiz (winning jockey): “I knew he was cutting back to 7 furlongs (so I wasn’t surprised that he was sharp). (Trainer Al Stall Jr.) did a great job sharpening him up. He put me in a great position. He helped me a lot and we had a beautiful trip. He kicked on very nice. As I told Al, we had everything come our way. He’s a nice horse and he did everything right. He kicked on really nice today. The half mile was pretty easy for him. He was just galloping along the backside, and I felt like was sitting on a lot of horse.”
Tyler Gaffalione (rider of runner-up Minnesota Ready): “Horse broke alertly, put himself in a great spot. He traveled great throughout, just not enough pace. The speed got away from us.”
Irad Ortiz Jr. (rider of third-place finisher Wico [IRE]): “Broke good. I had to take a hold (in the early part of the race) and check a little bit. I slowed down a little bit and the winner just kept going on an easy pace. (He) was hard to catch up to.”
