Chelsea Durand Photo

Newspaperofrecord makes stylish return in Intercontinental (G3)

by Ryan Martin

Grade 1-winner Newspaperofrecord made a dazzling return in Saturday's Grade 3, $100,000 Intercontinental at Belmont Park.

Owned by Seth Klarman's Klaravich Stables, Inc. and trained by Chad Brown, the 4-year-old Lope de Vega bay arrived at the seven-furlong test for fillies and mares over the Widener turf course off an 11-month layoff. She last raced in the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks Invitational, where she was a distant ninth as the favorite.

Newspaperofrecord won all three of her juvenile starts by open lengths, including a 6 ¾-length romp in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Churchill Downs in November 2018.

Piloted by regular rider Irad Ortiz, Jr., Newspaperofrecord broke sharply from post 3 and secured a short lead with 17-1 longshot Jakarta keeping her company to her outside while recording an opening quarter-mile in 22.39 seconds.

Approaching the far turn, Jakarta began to give way as Newspaperofrecord's dual graded stakes-winning stable mate Regal Glory loomed a threat as she inched her way closer to the front end as a relaxed Newspaperofrecord recorded a half-mile in 45.38.

Newspaperofrecord continued to find more at the top of the stretch and glided home to victory by four lengths to the better of Regal Glory. Last year's Intercontinental hero Significant Form finished third, 2 ¾ lengths in front of Viadera, giving Brown the superfecta. Newspaperofrecord stopped the clock in 1:22.71 on the yielding turf.

Rounding out the order of finish were Saratoga Treasure, Rose Flower, Jakarta, Eyeinthesky, Getmotherarose and Jc's Shooting Star. Victim of Love and main-track only Slimey were scratched.

The victory was the second on the day for Ortiz, Jr. and Brown, who teamed up two races prior to win the Grade 2 Fort Marcy with Instilled Regard.

"She broke so sharp and was nice and quiet. She went fast but she kept going," said Ortiz, who has piloted Newspaperofrecord in all seven of her career starts. "She liked it soft, too. She's three-for-three on the soft turf now, so I think she appreciates it. She was a little more relaxed than last year. Hopefully, she will keep improving."

Brown was delighted to see such an effort from his filly and mentioned the possibility of running his talented filly in the Grade 1, $300,000 Just a Game on June 27.

"She's back. She ran brilliantly," Brown said. "I wanted to see her back in the winner's circle off a brilliant effort and she did that. She was up on the pace a little stronger than I had anticipated, but it was a great effort. I hope she comes out of it well.

"I wasn't looking to really let her rip off fractions like that, knowing I have to get her out to a mile next time and on short rest for the Just a Game," added Brown. "I have a little something to work with there, but she's a top-class horse and we'll let her tell us if she's ready to run back in that timeframe. If so, it would be terrific and if she needs more time, we're always going to do right by her."

Newspaperofrecord returned $4.70 for the victory and upped her lifetime earnings to $850,750 while cashing a check for the winner's share of $55,000. Her record now stands at 7-4-2-0.

Bred in Ireland by Times of Wigan Ltd., Newspaperofrecord is out of the Holy Roman Emperor broodmare Sunday Times.

Live racing resumes Sunday with a 10-race card highlighted by the $80,000 First Defence for 4-year-olds and up going seven furlongs on the Widener turf in Race 9 at 5:36 p.m. Eastern. First post is 1:15 p.m.