Three Rules getting a break after Carry Back victory

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Jose Pinchin was conspicuously absent from the winner’s circle following Three Rules’s hard-fought neck victory over Mo Cash in Saturday’s Grade 3 Carry Back Stakes – especially since the race marked the speedy 3-year-old’s first graded stakes win.

But Pinchin had a good excuse for missing the milestone: He was in Jamaica attending his nephew’s wedding.

“I actually watched the race as the bride and groom were coming down the aisle,” Pinchin said, “so I couldn’t do any cheering or celebrate until after the wedding had ended.”

Three Rules rallied from midpack to wear down the pacesetting Mo Cash right before the wire despite drifting well out and losing momentum entering the stretch of the sevenfurlong Carry Back. The son of Gone Astray earned a 93 Beyer Speed Figure, one point off his personal best set this winter in the Grade 2 Swale.

“To tell you the truth, I didn’t think it would have come down to a photo finish like that. I thought he’d win easier, but that little horse is a nice horse,” Pinchin said, referring to Mo Cash. “The one thing my horse proved is that he doesn’t need to be on the lead. And Cornelio [Velasquez] rode a great race. He really threaded the needle when he had to on the turn. I’m not sure why he drifted out like that. I haven’t actually had a chance to talk to Cornelio yet, otherwise he probably would have won a little more comfortably.”

Pinchin said he planned to give Three Rules “a little break” before deciding on a next race.

“Everything is up to the owners, but I’d like to come back and find some easy spot for him if I can,” Pinchin said. “Saratoga is still in the air, and I’d really like to keep him with 3-year-olds, if I can, the rest of the year.”

Imperial Hint in great shape

Imperial Hint emerged in great shape from his very convincing victory in Saturday’s Grade 3 Smile Sprint, trainer Luis Carvajal Jr. said as he awaited his star’s return to Parx Racing on Monday.

The win was the fourth in a row, all by open lengths, for Imperial Hint and guaranteed him a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. He earned a 101 Beyer Speed Figure for the effort.

“He is on a flight right now to New York, then vans here later this afternoon,” Carvajal said from his Parx headquarters.

“The good news is he came out of the race in perfect shape. I was concerned he might be a little knocked out, having been away since February. But he cooled out quickly at the test barn after the race, and the next morning he was bright, as cold as ice, and didn’t leave an oat in the feed tub.”

Carvajal said he also was encouraged after talking to jockey Javier Castellano following the race.

“Javier said he really liked him, that he seems more mature than when he rode him the first time earlier in his career, and that gives me even more confidence,” Carvajal said.

Carvajal said he’ll sit down with owner Raymond Mamone this week and map out their strategy for the second half of the season, with the focus obviously on getting the son of Imperialism to the Breeders’ Cup in peak form.

“We could go to Saratoga,” Carvajal said. “I’ve always dreamed of going there with a good horse to be competitive in a big race. But I’d also like to keep him away from the big boys a little longer if we can. Being guaranteed a spot in the Breeders’ Cup allows us to skip the bigger races and do just that if we want.”

Hat tricks for Saez, Zayas

Luis Saez and Edgard Zayas were the riding stars on the Summit of Speed card, each recording a hat trick during the long afternoon. Saez’s three wins came in stakes races. He was aboard the 2-year-old Diamond Oops in the Kiss a Native, Who’s the Lady in the Azalea, and Curlin’s Approval, who dominated the Grade 2 Princess Rooney to earn herself a fees-paid berth in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.

Zayas’s day nearly ended before it began when he fell following the tragic breakdown of Slacks of Course in the Kiss a Native. But Zayas quickly got back in action, winning the next two races with the 2-year-old Rose to Fame in the Brave Raj and the lightning-fast Pay the Price, whom he geared down to the wire 3 1/4 lengths in front in the Bob Umphrey Turf Sprint.

Total handle sets record

The total handle on the 14-race Summit of Speed card of more than $12.6 million smashed the record for the event of $9.7 million for 13 races established in 2016. Gulfstream Park rejuvenated the popular Summit of Speed program, which began at Calder Race Course two decades earlier, in 2015 following a one-year hiatus and has seen the handle numbers grow each year since.