The Suburban (Grade 2) (BC)- $400.000 Purse
BEL- For Four Year Olds and Upward
One Mile and One Quarter on the Dirt
July 3, 2021
Splash Mountain going off at 11/1 odds just doesn’t seem right, but it actually has been happening more often recently than it probably should be. There was no reason to doubt him, and even if you liked another horse or two in here a little more than him, at those odds, you have to take a shot. In The Suburban, this great of the game would win for the tenth time of his career, keeping Having A Blast from winning the race for the second year in a row by half a length. It is the first win in the race for both the trainer, John Henry, and the jockey, S X Bridgmohan. Congratulations to them! The time of the race was 2:02.77 on the track listed as good. Let’s take a look!
(½ Mile- :48.13)- Ete Creek is fast out of the gate, and quickly jumps out to a length lead as they move around the opening turn and into backstretch. Behind him are three of the race’s top four eventual finishers. Space Commander takes the third lane for Nakamura Stables and is scored in second for now, and running in the third spot while on the rail is Having A Blast, for Mb Stables. In between them, our winner stalks the pace for John Henry, about a length and a half from the lead. Showing interest in joining these three is YME Stable’s No More Haggis in the fourth lane, and he has Immoral (Mb Stables) and A Born Dancer (Maxmillion Farm). Next in line come huge longshot Insist On Beauty (Chili KIng Stables) and Black And Red (Australia Wide), and the trailers are Quarter Plan (Gdp Inc) and Graveyard (Mb Stables).
(¾ Mile- 1:12.32)- In front, Ete Creek is still the leader, and does not seem to be overdoing it at all as he leads by a length. Not much seemed to change at first glance behind him, but very subtly, you notice that Splash Mountain moves into the second position from having been fourth before, moving forward before either Having A Blast or Space Commander start to react, and this puts him in an ideal lane for the turn. No More Haggis still runs side by side with Immoral, but did not further advance on the trio in front of him. Not much change further back.
(Top Of Stretch, 1.8F To Go)- Splash Mountain can look back at how he handled the turn as how he won this race. He put himself in position to run well here, and about midway through the turn, he was level with Ete Creek. However, more importantly, he gained a half length on Having A Blast, just a little bit of ground, but ground that Having A Blast would be trying to make up in the stretch. Approaching the exit of the turn, Splash Mountain was looking much the best. That could not be said about Ete Creek, who was beginning to show signs of fatigue. Having A Blast still ran well, while Space Commander lost some more ground to them. Further back, there was a lot of “side by side” movement in the field, but no one making a late push, other than Graveyard. That one was looking like a threat, for sure, but he was running wide, and still needed to make up nearly four lengths on the leader.
(Finish- 2:02.77)- Splash Mountain looked strong at the top of the stretch while Having A Blast stayed glued to his inside while the gap to third place began to grow. Not many horses probably could have held off the pressure applied by Having A Blast, but Splash Mountain is one of those special ones that is able to do so, and he fends off the challenge to win by half a length! As Mb Stables hoped for Having A Blast to make that pass, he was also looking from the corner his eye at Graveyard, who made a strong stretch bid. That was only going to max out at third, but Graveyard is able to get that spot over Space Commander. It’s about another length to Black And Red and Quarter Plan, who defeat Immoral, A Born Dancer, Ete Creek, Insist On Beauty, and No More Haggis.
About The Winner- Splash Mountain, trained by John Henry and ridden to victory by S X Bridgmohan, is a six year old gelding by Ned Isakoff, and is out of Sneaky Alessandra. He was bred in New Jersey by Smokey Stover as a second quarter two year old, and acquired by John Henry in June 2018 private sales for just $20.000. Congratulations to the connections! The win is his 10th in 39 starts, and his seventh stake win, all of which are graded. His career earnings are now $7,479.660.
Track: Good
Time: :48 1:121 1:37 2:023
$2 Mutuel Prices:
$1 Exacta: 5 – 2 Paid 182.70
$1 Trifecta: 5 – 2 – 6 Paid 474.00
Scratched: Night Creature
Categories: Grade II, STAKES ARTICLES
