SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Graham Motion admitted he began to become a little concerned when jockey Manny Franco asked Test Score to commence his rally as the field turned into the stretch in Friday’s $750,000 Belmont Derby. And, initially, his horse did not appear to be responding to the cue.
But, ultimately, it was all’s well that ends well for Motion and Franco after Test Score finally heeded the call, rallying strongly between horses through the final furlong to a 1 1/4-length victory over World Beater in the Grade 1 fixture for 3-year-olds at 1 1/8 miles on turf. The victory gave Motion and owner Amerman Racing LLC back-to-back wins in the Belmont Derby, the team having combined to win the event one year earlier at Aqueduct with Trikari.
Test Score nearly became a Grade 1 winner for the first time in his previous start when second best behind Zulu Kingdom two months earlier at Churchill Downs in the American Turf. The latter’s connections opted to skip the Belmont Derby to prove a very popular winner of the Grade 3 Manila turning back to a mile less than an hour earlier here Friday.
Test Score bobbled briefly at the start but recovered quickly to race in perfect striking position in the run down the backstretch, three lengths off the pacesetting Tank, who was stalked from the outset by New Century. Motion started to get nervous after watching Test Score initially make little progress when sharply roused by Franco around the second turn.
Test Score was still three lengths behind the leaders leaving the final turn before suddenly finding his best stride, surging past the tiring Tank at mid-stretch to win going clear. World Beater rallied widest into the stretch, finishing strongly down the center of the course and edging out Luther by a nose to be second best while unable to match strides with the winner through the final furlong.
Tank was fourth, while New Century, the tepid 2-1 favorite, and Final Gambit finished in a dead heat for fifth. Early Adopter, the longest price on the board at 20-1, was seventh and last.
Test Score, a homebred son of Lookin At Lucky who has finished worse than third just once in eight career starts, completed the distance over a firm course in 1:45.56 seconds, paid $8.60, and earned a 90 Beyer Speed Figure.
“I loved where he was, but I’ve got to be honest: I was a little worried at the top of the stretch. I thought he wasn’t going anywhere,” said Motion. “This horse has a tendency to do that, but he’s just so tenacious. He really doesn’t quit.”
Motion said he wasn’t surprised Test Score was a little closer to the pace than usual during the early stages of the Belmont Derby.
“It didn’t look like much speed, and I was a little surprised Oisin [Murphy, aboard New Century] went on. But it really helped us. It put us in a great spot. We pointed for this race after Churchill and I was really hoping not to run against Chad’s horse [Zulu Kingdom], which worked out. To [win this race] two two years in a row for Mr. Amerman is pretty cool. I haven’t trained for him very long and these are two serious horses.”
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