Belmont Stakes Festival Recap: Hawksmoor wires field in G2 New York

By Jenny Kellner —-

ELMONT, N.Y. – Hawksmoor took the lead coming out of the gate and was never threatened as she cruised to a one-length victory over Quidura to take Friday’s 74th edition of the Grade 2, $500,000 New York presented by NYRA Bets at Belmont Park.

Under a confident ride from Julien Leparoux, the 4-year-old filly set fractions of 49.72 seconds for the opening half-mile over a firm inner turf course, with three-quarters going in 1:15.57 and the mile in 1:39.66 as Quidura, Suffused and Apple Betty gave chase. Once into the lane, with her rivals seemingly set to pounce, Hawksmoor was given the go-ahead by Leparoux and she responded with a rousing late kick that carried her to the wire in 2:01.18 for the 1 ¼ miles.

“She had the bit, but she was relaxed,” said Leparoux of Hawksmoor, whom he had ridden to victory last month in the Grade 3 Beaugay over a yielding Belmont turf course. “She can do whatever you want. She proved today that she can go a mile and a quarter. I think she can go even longer if we need to, so she’s very versatile with distance and how the track is. It was a good group of fillies against her, so it was good to see her be able to compete and beat them.”

The win was the second in four North American starts for the Lael Stable color-bearer, who was third in the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup last October at Keeneland in her stateside debut and then sixth in the Grade 2 Mrs. Revere at Churchill Downs the following month.

“Everything set up very well for her,” said winning trainer Arnaud Delacour. “I was a little bit worried about the outside horse [Sassy Little Lila], because she’s a speed horse but the fact that she scratched probably helped us. We were able to get a comfortable lead and he [Julien] rode a good race.”

“I wasn’t surprised when they left her alone out there. I got a little worried when I saw the opening quarter because it looked like she was pulling a little bit, but when I saw the time at the half-mile pole in 49.72, I was very happy. I knew they were going to have to come and get her and she did good. I don’t really know the filly too well. But obviously, she proved today that she can run with an efficient turn of foot on firm turf which was the question mark so we’re very delighted.”

Sent off at 11-1, Hawksmoor returned $25.40 for a $2 win bet.

A multiple Group winner in Europe, Hawksmoor is 5-0-5 from 13 career starts, and with the winner’s purse of $275,000 now has earned $693,739.

Following Quidura under the wire were Kitten’s Roar, Sea Calisi, favored Suffused, Dacita, Apple Betty and Summersault.

Sassy Little Lila was scratched.