Lone Rock going for Brooklyn repeat

ELMONT, N.Y. – Lone Rock won Belmont Park’s 1 1/2-mile Brooklyn by a widening 11 1/4 lengths in 2021. And if that isn’t disconcerting enough for the connections of the six horses he’ll face in defense of that title here Saturday, his trainer, Robertino Diodoro, says he believes his star is doing even better going into the race this time around.

The Grade 2 Brooklyn was the most prestigious of the seven races Lone Rock captured a year ago, and the 7-year-old hasn’t slowed up since, having won five of his seven subsequent tries with one of those losses coming when he attempted to turn back to a mere 1 1/16 miles in the Grade 3 Razorback at Oaklawn Park in his 2022 debut.

To say Lone Rock is a 1 1/2-mile specialist would be an understatement as he’s won five times and finished second once in six career starts going 12 furlongs. None of his six rivals in the Brooklyn has ever won a race at that distance.

“He shipped up here like he never left his stall at home and he hasn’t missed a beat since he arrived,” Diodoro said. “He’s gotten heavier, thicker, stronger than he was when here for this race a year ago and looks like a million bucks. I don’t think he’s ever been better.”

Lone Rock stalked the pace before drawing away at will to register his one-sided victory in last year’s Brooklyn, a style that seems to serve him well. He should have a target to run at with the speedy First Constitution one of three horses trainer Todd Pletcher will send out against the likely favorite.

“Ramon and I have decided at this point it’s just best to let him go out there and do his thing. He’s smart and he knows what he wants to do and where he needs to be,” Diodoro said, referring to jockey Ramon Vazquez, who has ridden Lone Rock to eight victories in his last 10 starts. “The only mistake I’ve made with this horse was shortening him up for the Razorback. It was a bad entry job on my part and a huge relief for me when he bounced back and redeemed himself next time. If it’s up to me, you won’t see that happen again.”

Along with First Constitution, a wire-to-wire winner of the 11-furlong Flat Out in his last start, the Pletcher trio includes Fearless, a threetime graded stakes winner who has never been beyond 1 3/16 miles, and Portos, who finished a distant second in the Flat Out.

Max Player and Warrant are the class of the field. Max Player won the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup last summer at Saratoga and like Lone Rock has more than $1.3 million in career earnings, although he’s never started beyond 1 1/4 miles and is coming off a dull seventh-place finish in the Grade 2 Alysheba.

Warrant finished second, beaten a head by Express Train, in the 1 1/4-mile Santa Anita Handicap, although that’s the longest he’s ever run in 10 career starts.

Locally Owned, who sprung a major upset when defeating the 1-10 favorite Lone Rock by a length in the Grand Prix American Jockey Club here in September, completes the lineup.