by Jeff Apel

Presious Passion turned back Strike a Deal in the closing strides and earned a neck win in the $750,000 United Nations Stakes (G1) on Saturday at Monmouth Park to give trainer Mary Hartmann her first Grade 1 victory.

Hartmann began training in 1997 and has earned all four of her graded stakes wins with Presious Passion. With his United Nations victory, the Royal Anthem gelding earned an automatic starting berth in the Emirates Airline Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1) on October 25 at Santa Anita Park as part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge “Win and You’re In” series.

“I’m shaking,” Hartmann said. “This is the best feeling in the world. I’m just enjoying the win today.

“I’ll talk with the owners, Pat and Frank Generazio, to see what path we’ll take to get to the Breeders’ Cup, but that’s the plan for sure.”

Presious Passion set a determined pace in the 1 3/8-mile United Nations and was positioned near the inside hedge from the start by jockey Eddie Castro. Presious Passion maintained a 1 1/2-length lead through a half-mile in :49.16 and led by one length through six furlongs in 1:14.31 and one mile in 1:38.76.

Responding gamely at the top of the stretch, Presious Passion dug in when challenged by multiple stakes winner Strike a Deal near the finish and won in 2:13.88 on yielding turf.

“I got the early lead pretty easily,” Castro said. “I didn’t have to use too much horse. I was able to relax on the front end and get soft fractions. At the three-eighths pole, I just let him go and he kept on going.”

Strike a Deal finished 1 1/4 lengths in front of third-place finisher Equitable. Grade 2 winner Champs Elysees (GB), the 11-to-10 favorite, finished sixth in the eight-horse field.

Presious Passion entered off a runner-up finish on a sloppy track in the Battlefield Stakes on June 15 at Monmouth. Prior to that start, the chestnut gelding won the 1 1/2-mile Pan American Handicap (G3) on April 5 on the Gulfstream Park turf.

Presious Passion concluded 2007 with a win in the 1 1/2-mile W. L. McKnight Handicap (G2) on December 15 at Calder Race Course.

Presious Passion earned his eighth win in 29 starts and increased his earnings to $935,028. Bred in Florida by Joseph and Helen Barbazon, Presious Passion is the only winner from two starters out of Princesa’s Passion, by Marquetry.

For an Equibase chart, click here. 

Jeff Apel is a Thoroughbred Times assistant daily news editor