Darley Stable’s Barrier Reef, tested throughout the lane by Roman Emperor, pulled away in the final strides for a half-length victory Saturday afternoon in the 29th running of the $109,000 Whirlaway for three-year-olds at a mile and a sixteenth on Aqueduct’s inner dirt track.

The victory, the second in Barrier Reef’s four-race career, will likely send the Mizen Mast colt to the Grade 3, $250,000 Gotham, also at a mile and a sixteenth, here on Saturday, March 8. He returned $12.80 as the fifth choice of the on-track crowd of 3,602.

In his previous race, Barrier Reef ran fourth behind undefeated Giant Moon, Spanky Fischbein and Roman Emperor in the Count Fleet on January 5. Three-wide on the turns, Barrier Reef’s race was nothing special to look at, but just might have had a positive influence in the Whirlaway.

“After his last race, he came back blowing more than you would have expected him to,” said winning trainer Tom Albertrani. “Maybe he got a lot more out of that race, stepping up against a better group of horses. He trained a lot better going into this race. He was really on his game in his last couple of works. He was always on the bridle.

Every step of the way, I was confident. Going down the backstretch, I thought he was going to win. Roman Emperor gave him a great fight, but we had a little more left.”

The track had endured a day-long rain on Friday, when it was sealed. But Saturday, it was opened up early and was listed as “good” throughout the day. Roman Emperor opted to track longshot Sonic Boom, who got the first quarter of a mile in :23.62 and the half in :48.02.

Jockey Jeremy Rose then sent Roman Emperor to the lead, as Barrier Reef and jockey Alan Garcia rallied on the outside. Neither horse quit, but Barrier Reef had something left to win in 1:44.47.

“The other horse (Roman Emperor) was trying so hard,” Garcia said. “I was most confident with my horse on the outside; I wanted to put him in the best spot. He was a nice horse today. He was the best.”

Trainer Steve Klesaris said that Roman Emperor was also likely to re-appear in the Gotham.

“He ran great,” Klesaris said. “The trip went good, and he fought on hard. I don’t think he kicked over to his outside lead in the lane, but he was still digging in and trying hard. He was on the wrong lead in his last race, too. Hopefully, this is something he’ll figure out with maturity. We’ll definitely think about the Gotham.”

Texas Wildcatter was third, followed by stablemate Spanky Fischbein, Apple Special, favored Cave’s Valley and Sonic Boom.

“You’ve got to come out of the gate better than that,” said Cave’s Valley’s trainer, Michael Trombetta. “I thought he would be up close today.”