Far Bridge denies War Like Goddess in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic (Janet Napolitano)
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By Christian Abdo – NYRA Press Office
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – LSU Stables’ Far Bridge surged to double up on top-level scores and deny War Like Goddess a third consecutive win versus males in Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic, a 12-furlong inner turf test for 3-year-olds and up, at Belmont at the Big A.
Trained by Christophe Clement, the 4-year-old English Channel bay utilized frontrunning tactics for the first time last-out to win the Grade 1, $750,000 Resorts World Casino Sword Dancer on August 24, at Saratoga Race Course. On Saturday, Far Bridge came from off-the-pace under Hall of Famer Joel Rosario to earn his third career Grade 1-victory, having also captured the Belmont Derby in July 2023 at its namesake oval.
Far Bridge, bred and initially campaigned by Calumet Farm, launched his career with Clement with a pair of wins at Gulfstream Park early last year before being privately purchased and transferred to the care of Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher. He made five starts for Pletcher, including the rallying Belmont Derby score, before rejoining Clement’s stable for his current campaign.
“After the last race, everybody said he stole it which slightly surprised me because I thought everybody had the chance to beat him from the quarter-pole to the wire and nobody out finished him. He actually out finished everybody,” said Clement. “I didn’t think he stole anything, and he proved today he didn’t steal anything because he came from off the pace and managed to win the race.”
Far Bridge broke alertly from the outermost post 5 and traveled in fourth position outside of Emmanuel behind the pacesetting Get Smokin and tracking Silver Knott, with War Like Goddess at the back of the field under Junior Alvarado, through an opening quarter-mile in 24.34 seconds over the yielding going.
Far Bridge settled into fourth position behind Get Smokin, Silver Knott, and Emmanuel as the field passed the wire in a 49.05 half-mile, and the order remained unchanged in the second turn and down the backside as the pacesetter rattled off fractions of 1:14.17 and 1:40.79.
Entering the far turn, Silver Knott took over on the lead from a tiring Get Smokin, while War Like Goddess advanced into second position with an early move from last. As Get Smokin retreated, Far Bridge was shuffled back nearing the three-eighths pole, but Rosario quickly found clear air.
“When Get Smokin was coming back he got checked, but Joel made a great decision by keeping him on the inside again,” said Clement. “He’s a top-class horse and he’s always been a top-class horse for us. We thought he was a top-class horse as a young 3-year-old and we think he’s a top-class horse as an older horse.”
In the final turn, Silver Knott tried to hold off the oncoming War Like Goddess, with Far Bridge still giving chase after 10 furlongs in 2:06.73. War Like Goddess collared Silver Knott by the stretch call, but Rosario found a seam to their inside and Far Bridge gained rapidly on the new leader.
Full of momentum to the inside, and despite the heart of the multiple Grade 1-winning multimillionaire War Like Goddess, Far Bridge prevailed by a half-length in a final time of 2:32.22.
FAR BRIDGE gets it done in the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Stakes with @JRosarioJockey up for @clementstable! pic.twitter.com/9vFdpiKuD3
— NYRA () (@TheNYRA) September 28, 2024
It was 4 1/4-lengths back to Silver Knott in third, with Emmanuel rounding out the superfecta, and Get Smokin completing the order of finish. Daunt and Truly Quality were scratched.
“Everything was a little different today, but he was able to put everything together and win the race. He’s a horse that can do both,” said Rosario. “It looked like on paper there was more speed today. The fractions were a little different than last time, and when they go that fast, he can sit behind it, so that worked.”
Owner Randy Sarf, of LSU Stables, said that he was impressed with what he saw from Far Bridge, adding that he would be a tough customer in a possible next start in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf on November 2 at Del Mar.
“He can be anywhere, any place, any time – he loves the rail the most, but he can be on the outside or even on the lead if he needs to. He can come from the back if he wants to. He is in top form right now and he is ready to win the Breeders’ Cup,” said Sarf. “We’ll give him a nice little rest and he’ll go out to California and we’re going to win the Breeders’ Cup.”
Clement confirmed that the 1 1/2-mile event will be the goal.
“Absolutely. We have to go and train him for that. We’ll worry about that starting tomorrow morning,” said Clement.
Alvarado said the Hall of Famer Bill Mott-conditioned War Like Goddess, an impressive winner of this event the last two runnings, was game in defeat.
“The pace was developing exactly how we wanted it and she was traveling beautiful where she was. I had enough horse when I asked her, we just got run down at the end,” said Alvarado. “We just barely got beat by a half a length just because I think that other horse might have cut the corner and that might have helped him to get half a length in front of me right there at the end.”
Bred in Kentucky, Far Bridge, out of the winning Kitten’s Joy mare Fitpitcher, banked $275,000 in victory while improving his record to 13-6-3-2 and returning $7.90 for a $2 win bet.
Live racing resumes Sunday at the Big A with a nine-race card, featuring the Grade 2, $250,000 Gallant Bloom in Race 2 and the Grade 2, $200,000 Miss Grillo – a “Win and You’re In” for the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf – in Race 8. First post is 1:05 p.m. Eastern.
