Twenty Six Black hits the front in the Harvey Pack, NYRA Photo
Mary Eddy
Roger Cimbora, Jr.’s New York homebred Twenty Six Black demonstrated his affinity for Saratoga Race Course with a stalk-and-pounce score in Sunday’s Listed $200,000 Harvey Pack, a 5 1/2-furlong Mellon turf sprint for older horses.
Trained by Horacio De Paz, the 6-year-old son of War Dancer improved his overall ledger here to 9-3-3-1, adding to a score in last year’s restricted Disco Partner and a runner-up effort to Bring Theband Home in the Grade 2 Troy. That foe returned in the Harvey Pack, and Twenty Six Black turned the tables to land his first open-company stakes victory. He entered from a game 1 1/2-length fourth in the Grade 1 Jaipur on June 6 here.
“I love him,” De Paz said. “He’s such a consistent horse.”
Guided to victory by Manny Franco, Twenty Six Black exited post 4-of-8 and was squeezed by rivals within the first few strides, shuffling him back to sixth down the backstretch. The hot pace was set by Bring Theband Home, who sizzled through the opening quarter-mile in 20.90 seconds over the firm footing under pressure from longshot Full Disclosure.
“I saw him check a little bit and I was concerned about that a little bit, but it was probably the best thing that could happen because the pace was pretty fast,” De Paz said. “And then he comes with that run, it was good.”
Franco, who has now been aboard the gelding for 10 of his starts, said he was content to let Twenty Six Black use his typical stalking tactics.
“I knew there was a lot of speed in the race. That pace was good for the way my horse runs,” Franco said. “I was a little bit worried and concerned with the way the track is, but at the same time, I rode my horse the way he likes. I didn’t change anything.”
The top two began to draw off from their rivals, but Franco shook his reins in the turn and Twenty Six Black advanced between foes to loom large at the head of the lane. Franco angled his charge out slightly and as he hit the clear, the talented gelding showed an explosive turn-of-foot through the half-mile in 43.54 to lengthen his stride as the field inhaled a tiring Bring Theband Home and Possiblemente ran on gamely from mid-pack.
Possiblemente gave chase with 41-1 longshot Coppola making a bid down the center of the course, but it was too little, too late as Twenty Six Black swept through the wire 2 3/4 lengths in front in a sharp final time of 1:00.49.
Possiblemente held second by three-quarter lengths over Coppola with Chasing Liberty and We’re in Trouble sharing fourth in a dead heat. Bring Theband Home, Full Disclosure and Boss Sully completed the order of finish. Jean Valjean and Outlaw Kid were scratched, along with main track-only entrants Damon’s Mound, Acoustic Ave, Paradise Valley, Mischievous M and New York Scrappy.
De Paz said Twenty Six Black is likely to try his luck again in the Grade 2, $300,000 Troy on August 9.
“Probably. We’ll just keep him here at Saratoga,” De Paz said. “He likes it here, so we might as well keep trying along those races.”
Out of the First Dude mare Brazo de Oro, Twenty Six Black is a half-brother to stakes-placed Can’t Fool Me and joins Mi Bago as New York-breds to win stakes on the Sunday card after the latter dead-heated with Zulu Kingdom in the Grade 3 Kelso two races earlier. Twenty Six Black earned $110,000 in victory while improving his record to 20-8-5-2. He returned $5.30 on a $2 win ticket as the 8-5 post time favorite.
“Kudos to the owner,” De Paz said. “That mare has been so consistent…for him to be a racehorse like this gives everybody hope.”
Live racing resumes Thursday at Saratoga with a nine-race card. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.
Saratoga Live presents daily coverage and analysis of the summer meet at Saratoga Race Course on the networks of FOX Sports. For the complete broadcast schedule, visit https://www.nyra.com/saratoga/racing/tv-schedule/.
NYRA Bets is the official wagering platform of Saratoga Race Course, and the best way to bet every race of the summer meet. Available to horseplayers nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.
