Elsa Lorieul Photo

Inspector Lynley sets track record in Danger's Hour victory

by Brian Bohl

Stuart Janney, III and Phipps Stable's Inspector Lynley relished a cutback in distance, setting a track record on the inner turf with a one-length win in the fifth running of the $100,000 Danger's Hour at one mile for 4-year-olds and up on Sunday at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Inspector Lynley stayed off New York-bred Black Tide's early pace, with the opening quarter-mile in 23.04 seconds and the half in 46.34 over the firm inner turf. Jockey Jose Lezcano produced Inspector Lynley for the stretch run, and the multiple graded-stakes winner responded by overtaking Black Tide and outkicking a challenging Multiplier, hitting the wire in 1:34.13 to best Hawkish's previous record of 1:34.39, set on April 15, 2018.

Trained by Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey, Inspector Lynley cut back to a mile for the first time in eight starts. After winning the Grade 3 Tampa Bay at 1 1/16 miles, the 6-year-old son of Lemon Drop kid stretched out to 1 1/8 miles, finishing sixth in the Grade 2 Muniz Memorial Handicap on February 23 at Fair Grounds. Racing at the Big A for the first time since 2015, Inspector Lynley won his fifth career stakes overall.

Off as the 6-5 favorite, Inspector Lynley returned $4.50 on a $2 win bet, notching the second Aqueduct turf track record on the day. In Race 3, Unleveraged's maiden win in 1:47.56 at 1 1/8 miles on the outer turf broke Scholar Athlete's previous mark of 1:48.24 set on April 13, 2018.

"He broke pretty well. I knew that number seven [Black Tide] would be going and I tried to get as close as I could," said Lezcano, who was aboard for both of Sunday's record-breaking turf wins. "I didn't want to go too fast or too slow, I wanted to be in the right position. He's a very nice horse."

Multiplier, trained by fellow Hall of Famer Bill Mott, edged Maraud by three-quarters of a length for second.

"Bill Mott did a great job getting him ready. He's a pretty classy horse," said Multiplier jockey Dylan Davis. "It was my first time sitting on him, so I did a bit of homework watching his replays. He can be on the easier side off the break, but Black Tide was going pretty quick up front, so I just let him carry me where he wanted to be. He was actually pretty aggressive today. He finished well. I thought I was going to get by Lezcano. But he [Multiplier] is going to improve off of this effort."

Awesome Saturday, Black Tide and Coltandmississippi completed the order of finish.

Tour de Force and Killybegs Captain, main-track only entrants, were scratched.

Live racing resumes Wednesday with a nine-race card at Aqueduct. First post is 1:30 p.m. ET.