Man o' War Stakes: Point of Entry Wins, Treasure Beach 5th
Point of Entry put away the pacesetter, Center Divider, in the final furlong to go on and win the $600,000 Man o' War Stakes at Belmont Park on Saturday.
Heavy-favorite Treasure Beach (GB) finished a non-threatening fifth after failing to fire his best race.
Center Divider, with Rosie Napravnik aboard, took advantage of his inside position over Hudson Steele to take the early lead. Hudson Steele had to settle for third on the outside as Point of Entry, with Jose Lezcano, took second.
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Behind them on the inside was Tahoe Lake (BRZ), with Newsdad to his outside. Right in behind them was Treasure Beach (GB), with Game Ball trailing six lengths behind the pack.
Even though this was an 11-furlong race, the slow initial fractions of 26.10 and 52.02 pretty much decided the fate of the trailers on this race.
The positions went unchanged. At the last half-mile pole, the jockeys started to put position on their horses, but Napravnik and Lezcano looked relaxed while the pack behind them was starting to go all out.
As they turned for home, Point of Entry got even with Center Divider to his outside, and as they reached the final furlong, he started to draw clear and went on to win by 3.5 lengths.
Point of Entry extended his winning streak to three with this win and has won four of his last five, but this is by far the biggest win of his career. He had won the Grade 2 Elkhorn Stakes in his last race.
Jockey Jose Lezcano was aboard, as regular-rider John Velazquez is still recovering from a broken collarbone.
Center Divider, who stumbled and lost his jockey in his last race, proved that he can compete with the top runners of the division and should now be in the mix for the future races of the division.
Multiple Grade 1 winner Treasure Beach (GB) ran a disappointing race, as he never threatened after having an easy hold behind the pack early on. Maybe the slow pace affected him, like it did to the other trailers.
The winner, Point of Entry, is by Dynaformer out of the Seeking the Gold mare Matlacha Pass and now has a career record of 12-5-2-1 with $574,490 in earnings.
Man O' War Stakes (G1) | Belmont Park | 11 Furlongs on Turf | Prize: $600,000 | Track: Firm
| 3 | Point of Entry | Jose Lezcano | 7.90 | 4.00 | 3.00 |
| 2 | Center Divider | Rosie Napravnik | 9.70 | 5.10 | |
| 1 | Tahoe Lake (BRZ) | Eddie Castro | 5.40 | ||
Also Ran: 4 - Newsdad , 5 - Treasure Beach (GB) , 7 - Hudson Steele , 6 - Game Ball | |||||
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