Prince Lucky comes through in stretch battle to win $150,000 Easy Goer on Belmont Stakes Day

by NYRA Press Office

Daniel McConnell's Prince Lucky outran Rugbyman on the outside and Dark Vader on the inside in a thrilling stretch battle and won the $150,000 Easy Goer for 3-year-olds on Saturday in the first of 10 stakes races worth $7.2 million on Belmont Stakes Day.

Under partly sunny skies at jammed Belmont Park, the 3-year-old Prince Lucky raced just off the pace set by Lunar Beauty. On the turn for home, the son of Corinthian moved up to challenge Dark Vader for the lead and then edged ahead with about a sixteenth mile to go. Rugbyman rallied from last to take a shot, but Prince Lucky won by a neck, with Dark Vader a nose back in third.

Three Grade 2 races, and six Grade 1s are to follow, topped by Justify's bid to become the 13th Triple Crown winner in the Belmont Stakes, presented by NYRA Bets.

The winning time for the eighth running of 1 1/6-mile Easy Goer was 1:41.41, giving Prince Lucky his first win in four starts this year. Ridden by John Velazquez, the Corinthian gelding was sent off at odds of 14-1 and returned $30 for a $2 win bet.

"I had the perfect trip,'' said Velazquez, "I was able to sit back at first and get a feel for the race. He's really matured since the last time I rode him. He seems to be putting it all together and maturing at the right time. Once we came down on the inside, he was full of run and really extended away to the finish."

Lunar Beauty set the early fractions of 23.27, 46.26 and 1:10.18 before yielding and finishing last in the field of seven 3-year-olds. Mask, the 7-5 favorite, was fourth, followed by Soutache, Breaking the Rules and Lunar Beauty.

"He had a very good work last week and we decided he was in sharp form and that we would take a shot,'' said Pletcher, of the recently gelded Prince Lucky, who ran third in the Sir Barton on May 19 at Pimlico. "The trip at Pimlico is a little hard to analyze because of the fog and conditions, but we felt like we maybe over rated him a little in terms of him taking too much of a hold of him. I told Johnny, 'Anything he is offering on his own, let him have it."

The race is named for 1989 Belmont Stakes winner Easy Goer, who spoiled Sunday Silence's bid for a Triple Crown.