Boca Boy, Princess Secret capture Sire Stakes wins
Jockey Edgard Zayas put the finishing touches on a successful summer meet at Gulfstream Park on Saturday afternoon when he rode Kenneth Fishbein’s 12-1 long-shot Boca Boy to an upset victory in the $400,000 FTBOA Florida Sire Stakes In Reality.
Zayas, who will claim the jockey’s titles for wins and money earned when the meet ends Sunday afternoon, took Boca Boy to the front in the 1 1⁄ mile In
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Reality and then held off the heavy 1-5 favorite Breeze On By down the stretch. Trained by Cheryl Winebaugh, Boca Boy, a 2-year-old gelding, covered the distance in 1:46.34.
In the $400,000 My Dear Girl, the FTBOA companion race for 2-year-old fillies, Daniel Pita’s Princess Secret drove by a game Restofthestory to win by a neck.
Boca Boy, breaking just outside Breeze On By, who was attempting to become only the 10th colt or gelding to sweep the three-race Sire Stakes races in it’s nearly 40-year history, couldn’t have broken any better from the gate. But Zayas rode Boca Boy alongside the favorite into the turn and then took control before setting fractions of :23.54, :47.21 and 1:11.36. Breeze On By, running between horses down the backstretch, took aim at Boca Boy entering the stretch, but couldn’t get by the winning son of Prospective, winning for the second time in four starts.
“I was trying to get the trip I wanted and put him in a spot I wanted and have control of the race from there,” Zayas said. “From the stretch on I knew [Breeze On By] at some point he was going to find space and try to run but at that point I had enough horse and kind of hold on as much as I can. My horse kept fighting and he relaxed really well on the lead, and it helped him down the stretch.”
Princess Secret, winner of the $200,000 sevenfurlong Sire Stakes event Aug. 29, was four-wide around the first turn under jockey Miguel Vasquez and then rated behind the pacesetter Restofthestory, who was pressed past fractions of :23.60 and :47.58. Vasquez made a move at the leaders around the final turn and drew even with Restofthestory entering the stretch. The two raced down the stretch in tandem before Princess Secret got the best of a very game Restofthestory. Princess Secret covered the 1 1⁄ miles in 1:45.13.
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Gulfstream’s summer meet concludes today with a 12-race program with a first-race post of noon.