The big guns from Coolmore and Godolphin gave the Belmont Oaks Invitational (G1T) a pass in its July 8 renewal at Belmont Park but that only opened the door for another international connection as Aspen Grove drove past the leaders in the final sixteenth to win for a multinational team.
And to hear her owner tell it, there might be more to come.
Aspen Grove had just one win to her credit as she shipped across the Atlantic and was last seen finishing 10th in the Irish One Thousand Guineas (G1) at the Curragh May 28, beaten more than 14 lengths with a Timeform rating that was not promising.
Owner Craig Bernick, president of Glen Hill Farm, was not discouraged and his filly, co-owned by Mrs. John Magnier of Coolmore farm, did not disappoint.
The daughter of Justify , out of the More Than Ready mare Data Dependent , was loaded with a blanket and missed the break for jockey Oisin Murphy. Murphy calmly got her over to the rail from the outside, No. 9 post position and allowed her to relax behind most of the field.
After making up some ground on the stretch turn, Murphy found a seam inside the final furlong, was in the mix in the final sixteenth and won by three-quarters of a length, finishing the 1 1/4 miles on firm turf in 2:04.09.
Prerequisite was second and Papilio third. The favorite, Mission of Joy , was never in the mix and beat only two rivals.
Coolmore’s Aidan O’Brien, Godolphin’s Charlie Appleby, and local turf wizard Chad Brown have dominated the Oaks for more than a decade. The English and Irish connections were not represented this time and Brown came up just short with Prerequisite and Aspray , who finished fourth.
Murphy said the slow start was no issue.
“I was very happy because I was able to save ground towards the rail and when the pace stopped in front of me, I was able to get out on the back of a horse going forward,” he said. “I switched out into the straight and it wasn’t a very difficult ride.”
Bernick said Murphy’s ride was ‘perfect.’ “He broke a little slow but he was able to get over from the outside. At all times, it looked like he made all the right moves. I thought it was good.”
Bernick said he had been looking down the road for another spot for Aspen Grove but trainer James “Fozzy” Stack convinced him the New York race was doable.
“I have to give him all the credit,” he said. “Her good races were good enough to win this and her bad races, she’s nowhere. So we thought we’d take a chance and we’re really, really excited.
“It’s the first foal out of a mare that we own. It’s a really big deal. So we’re really excited.”
Glen Hill Farm, headquartered near Ocala, Fla., was founded by Bernick’s grandparents, Leonard and Bernice Lavin, in 1966. Glen Hill Farm campaigned such prominent runners as Relaunch and his daughter, One Dreamer , who won the 1994 Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1). Bernick took over in 2008 after a career at Alberto-Culver, the firm that Lavin built into a worldwide beauty products company, and has focused on the international scene.
“We have a lot of turf horses here,” Bernick said. “We probably need more dirt. But we were getting beat by the European turf horses. So we started about five or six years ago building a broodmare band there (Ireland). We don’t have a lot of horses but we’re starting to have some nice ones. It’s great … I like the camaraderie. I like the way the horses are trained. I like Ireland. I like France. I like England. I like Del Mar, too. We don’t have any racing in Chicago anymore at Arlington so we’ve got to get on planes. But that’s no problem.”
Lavin was a Chicago-area resident and his operations always were associated with that area and especially Arlington International Racecourse.
Prompted that he had just won a grade 1 race in New York, Bernick quickly added the Empire State to his list of “likes.”
“I do like New York. I think we had a New York-bred filly that won four stakes here but at least in my time this is the first big race we’ve won in New York,” Bernick said. “I think my grandpa won a few before I was born. He’d be smiling.”
The owner said the filly’s future, for now, is in North America.
“There’s a whole program for her here. We could go to the Del Mar Oaks (G1T), we could go to the Saratoga Oaks (G1T). It didn’t seem like the distance bothered her. There’s just a great program of races here, so I think she will stay here.”
Video: Fasig-Tipton Belmont Oaks Invitational S. (G1T)
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