OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Chad Brown had been giving rave reviews of Asbury Park to his owners for quite awhile. So when Asbury Park powered home as a two-length winner of Saturday’s Grade 2, $500,000 Jockey Club Derby there was a sense of relief for the five-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer.
“I’m so pleased to see it,” Brown said. “I always thought a lot of this horse, really. He’s a small horse and it took him a while to mature and strengthen up physically, but he was always a fancy-training horse.
“I’ve been giving glowing reports on the horse since he was 2, I like to be fairly accurate if I’m grading what I’m seeing,” Brown added. “I feel a little bit rewarded for myself and for the horse.”
Brown also felt that Asbury Park would improve with added distance. All four of his races before Saturday - of which he won just a maiden heat - were run at 1 1/16 miles. The Jockey Club Derby was at 1 3/8 miles.
“It looks like he always wanted to go farther,” Brown said. “I didn’t have anything that suited him to be his best.”
Asbury Park, under Manny Franco, broke sharp, but others, mainly Crudo, were more intent on going forward. Asbury Park settled into fifth position, only about five lengths off the tepid pace set by Crudo, who went six furlongs in 1:14.02 and a mile in 1:38.57.
Around the far turn, Franco began to work his way to the outside and, once he got in the clear, Asbury Park gradually began to go after the leaders, taking over just before the sixteenth pole and drawing clear.
Asbury Park beat Noble Confessor by two lengths. It was half-length back to favored Hill Road - also trained by Brown - in third. Asbury Park, a son of Frankel, is owned by Peter Brant and Vinnie and Teresa Viola’s St. Elias Stable. St. Elias also owns Noble Confessor and bred both horses.
“They told me I can be right behind the speed,” Franco said. “As soon as we break, everybody went for position and they ran away from me. I just took my time, I rode my race, and from there I was comfortable where I was, he was traveling well. Going to the three-eighths pole, I had a lot of horse. I was just trying to find the room, when I got the room he exploded for me.”
Asbury Park covered the 1 3/8 miles in 2:14.45 over firm turf and returned $6.96 as the second choice, earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 86. Brown said he may look at the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby at Del Mar on Nov. 29 for Asbury Park’s next start.
Hill Road, a graded stakes winner on dirt, finished third for the second consecutive turf race having also finished in that position in the Nashville Derby last month at Kentucky Downs.
Rated by Merit takes Discovery
Rated by Merit made a successful return to the races Saturday, and remained unbeaten in five career starts, taking the $125,000 Discovery Stakes in front-running fashion by 1 1/4 lengths over Wise Up, as trainer Chad Brown sent out the first two finishers in the five-horse field.
Rated by Merit was making his first start since last Nov. 30, when he won the In Reality division of the Florida Sire Stakes series at Gulfstream Park, completing a 4 for 4 juvenile campaign.
Rated by Merit, a son of Battalion Runner, was sidelined earlier this year due to bone bruising. In the interim, he was transferred to Brown from Michael Yates, for whom he made his first four starts.
The Discovery, typically run at 1 1/8 miles, was shortened to a one-turn mile this year, making it an ideal comeback spot for Rated by Merit.
Under Manny Franco, Rated by Merit got to the front and set fractions of 22.96 seconds for the quarter, 45.63 for the half-mile, 1:09.05 for six furlongs; he covered the mile in a quick 1:33.45. Rated by Merit returned $2.58 to win. There was $107,846 wagered to show on Rated by Merit out of $121,025 in the pool.
In the stretch, Rated by Merit came out a path or two under Franco’s left-handed whip. Though Ricardo Santana Jr. steadied on Wise Up, Rated by Merit was clear so there was no inquiry. Wise Up finished 13 3/4 lengths clear of Light Forever, who was followed by Uncaged and Dreambuilder in the order of finish.
“He’s got natural speed, I’m trying to sit chilly on him,” Franco said. “I had pressure on the outside, but he didn’t really bother me because I was focused on my horse. I got him to relax. He was going fast, but the right way.”
Brown gave Yates credit for the job he did with Rated by Merit and said the horse came to him in great shape. Brown said the horse did have a habit of leaning out in his workouts, something he showed again in the Discovery.
“At race speed it was a little more than I would have liked to see,” Brown said. “We’ll work on it. He ran a very fast time off the layoff - nearly 11 months off - and here he is running 1:33-and-change. There are a couple of things to work on, but a really, really solid horse. I’m picking up where the previous connections left off.”
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