NEWS
Barrier Reef surges clear in Stymie
Posted: Saturday, February 28, 2009 5:53 PM
BARRIER REEF
Adam Coglianese/NYRA photo
by Jeff Apel
Barrier Reef gained command approaching midstretch and earned his third consecutive victory with a 3 1/4-length win in the $71,305 Stymie Handicap on Saturday at Aqueduct as the 2.20-to-1 favorite.
Trained by Tom Albertrani, Barrier Reef has earned each of his five career wins at Aqueduct. The Mizzen Mast colt entered off a win in the Evening Attire Stakes on January 17 at the Jamaica, New York, track.
Darley Stable’s Barrier Reef won a 1 1/16-mile allowance/optional claiming race in his four-year-old debut on January 2 at Aqueduct prior to running in the Evening Attire. The gray or roan colt posted his first career stakes victory in the 2008 Whirlaway Stakes at Aqueduct.
Barrier Reef trailed in a field of eight in the Stymie Handicap through an opening quarter-mile in :23.30 and half-mile in :47.72. He was steadied near the inside rail by jockey Ramon Dominguez on the turn but closed gamely after he was angled out at the quarter pole.
Barrier Reef drew clear in the closing strides and won the 1 1/8-mile race in 1:50.57 on a track rated as fast.
Multiple stakes-placed winner Real Merchant (Chi) rallied from seventh to finish second, a half-length in front of third-place finisher True Resurgence.
Barrier Reef posted his fifth win in 11 starts and increased his earnings to $226,871. Bred in Kentucky by Matthew Herbener, Barrier Reef is a half brother to stakes-placed winners Artic Party and Kissin Party and is one of six winners from nine starters out of the Premiership mare Partyship.
In the $66,150 Feel the Beat Stakes on Friday, multiple stakes winner Awesome Ashley overtook stablemate Distorted Passion with a determined stretch run and posted a 1 1/2-length win.
Todd Pletcher trains both Awesome Ashley and Distorted Passion.
An Alex G. Campbell Jr. homebred, five-year-old Awesome Ashley entered off a third-place finish in the Get Lucky Stakes on February 4 at Aqueduct. The gray or roan mare earned her first stakes win in the Plankton Stakes on January 9 at the Jamaica, New York, track.
Awesome Ashley posted her fifth win in 19 starts and increased her earnings to $220,455.
Jeff Apel is a Thoroughbred Times assistant daily news editor
