Rinaldi breaks maiden in NYSSS Spectacular Bid victory

By Brian Bohl —-

ELMONT, N.Y. – Bond Racing Stable’s Rinaldi overtook pacesetter Thorny Tale in the stretch and held off a charging Funny Guy to capture the 14th running of the $150,000 New York Stallion Stakes Series Spectacular Bid by three-quarters of a length on Sunday at Belmont Park.

Rinaldi stayed just off Thorny Tale’s early fractions as he led the nine-horse field of state-bred 3-year-olds through an opening quarter-mile in 22.58 seconds and the half in 45.73 on the firm Widener turf course.

Thorny Tale held the advantage out of the turn and stayed close to the rail with Rinaldi in close pursuit. Jockey Luis Saez urged the Posse gelding in the stretch, with Rinaldi responding by running down Thorny Tale from the outside and completing seven furlongs in a 1:21.30 final time to break his maiden at second asking.

“It was amazing. He broke so sharp and he was way better in the clear,” Saez said. “When we came into the straightaway, I was asking pretty hard, and he responded.”

Rinaldi, a H. James Bond trainee who ran second in a maiden special weight going six furlongs on June 6 at Belmont, earned $82,500 for the victory and increased his career bankroll to $91,140. Off at 10-1, he returned $23.20 on a $2 win wager.

Funny Guy, trained by John Terranova, finished 2 ½ lengths clear of Thorny Tale for second, marking his second consecutive runner-up effort after finishing behind Blindwillie McTell in the Mike Lee on May 27 at Belmont. The Big Brown colt has finished first or second in five of his six career starts.

Smooth Tales, Analyzethisandthat, Bettor Bank On It, Magical Tale, Veterans Beach and Coach Villa completed the order of finish.

Blindwillie McTell, the 2-1 morning-line favorite, and Bankit were scratched.

Live racing resumes Wednesday with an eight-race card with a first post time of 1:30 p.m. Eastern.