ELMONT, New York, CMC – Jamaican jockey Rajiv Maragh put his Kentucky Derby disappointment behind him to reel off two handsome winners at Belmont Park here Wednesday.
The 29-year-old scored in the US$80 000 race seven with Bravodino before wrapping up the nine-race card at the historic racetrack with victory aboard another odds-on bet Eddy’s Time.
Maragh now has three wins from 28 rides in the spring meet which kicked off May 1st and winds up on July 13th.
The top rider, who finished fourth aboard Wicked Strong in this month’s Kentucky Derby after entering the race as the second favourite, got his Belmont season up and running over 1-1/4 miles when he brought Bravodino with a late run to edge out 35-1 longshot Comes the Dream by a nose.
He broke the four-year-old colt nicely and settled him in mid-pack as Comes the Dream posted easy fractions of 24.81 seconds for the first quarter and 50.34 for the half-mile, with Rapscallion stalking from second and North Star Boy also tracking.
Once in the stretch, Maragh sent Bravodino wide and brought him with a thunderous run down the middle of the track, hauling in the leaders and barely getting up to beat Comes the Dream at the wire.
In the $60 000 race nine over a mile on turf for the three-year-olds and upward and fillies and mares, Maragh settled Eddy’s Time in third as Baby B set the pace with Sleek stalking from second.
The order remained the same as the race swung for home and Maragh got the best from the four-year-old chestnut filly, challenging the front two before grabbing the lead with a furlong to run and holding on to win by a neck.
