Spot on the mark in winning Swale Stakes

Hallandale Beach, FL (SportsNetwork.com) – Spot, ridden by Jose Lezcano, came from off the pace to run down No Nay Never and win Saturday’s $200,000 Swale Stakes at Gulfstream Park.

The seven-furlong Swale was going to be the 2014 debut race for Breeders’ Cup Juvenile runner-up Havana. However, Havana was scratched Saturday morning with a quarter crack in his right front foot.

Trained by Nick Zito for Joseph Moss, Spot went off at 9-1 in the six-horse field with No Nay Never the 2-5 favorite.

No Nay Never was pressing the pace being set by Can’t Stop the Kid. Spot was racing fifth up the backstretch until the final turn.

Around the final turn, No Nay Never assumed the lead with Prudhoe Bay to his outside. Spot advanced and moved into third at the top of the stretch.

Spot made a big move down the stretch and went past No Nay Never inside the furlong pole as Brothersofthetime rallied into third. Spot posted a 2 1/2- length win over No Nay Never with Brothersofthetime getting third.

“I expected improvement. He hadn’t run in a while. We got him, and we started to like him. Sometimes they go to a new place and things change. I got goose bumps,” Zito said. “I said, ‘Havana will keep the field down, let do it.’ That’s what I did. I figured he would keep out of trouble, and it worked out perfectly.”

Prudhoe Bay was fourth followed by Can’t Stop the Kid and Breitling Flyer.

The time for the Swale on a fast track was 1:22.44.

Spot recorded his first stakes win with the Swale and earned $120,000. The gray gelding has two wins in six starts for $151,632.

“I have to thank Mr. (Joseph) Moss. He’s an elderly gentleman who loves this sport. He’s just looking for horses like this. He’s been trying for two years now. We’ve got to a couple sales and things haven’t worked out. I watched this horse run a month ago, and I know (owner/breeder) Mr. (Curtis) Green very well. I approached him, and he said, ‘Why not?’ Mr. Moss is getting up there in age and has so much guts, it’s amazing.”

After finishing second in his career debut last June at Arlington Park, Spot finished 10th on the turf at Arlington and fifth at Keeneland. The gelding broke his maiden in October at Hawthorne Racecourse. He came back last month to finish fifth behind Wildcat Red in Gulfstream’s Hutcheson Stakes.

Spot paid $21.00, $4.60 and $3.40. No Nay Never returned $2.40 and $2.10, and Brothersofthetime paid $5.20 to show.

Categorized in: Horses