Chelsea Durand Photo

Raging Bull charges late to win G2 Hall of Fame

by Najja Thompson

Under a perfectly timed ride by Joel Rosario, Peter M. Brant's Raging Bull rallied late in the final jumps to win the Grade 2, $200,000 National Museum of Racing of Hall of Fame on Friday at Saratoga Race Course.

Sent off as the post-time favorite at odds of 5-2 from post 4, Raging Bull settled in seventh in the early going as Gidu raced out to an uncontested lead setting fractions of 23.44 seconds for the opening quarter-mile with the half going in 47.23. 

Completing six furlongs in 1:11.96, Gidu started to tire in front as the field began to engage the leader. Rosario swung Raging Bull out five wide and met with Ride a Comet in the late stretch and surged past Maraud to secure the win by a nose at the wire.

Raging Bull completed 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.69 over a Mellon turf course listed as good. 

"Working with him, it took a little bit of time," said Rosario. "It seemed like he wasn't handling the turf good on the backside for a little bit. For a second, I thought maybe the horse on the lead [Gidu] was going to stay there, but I'm glad my horse got it done."

Returning $7.30 for a $2 win wager and earning his first graded-stakes win with the victory in only his fourth career start, the 3-year-old French-bred son of Dark Angel boosted his career earnings to $218,500. 

"He just ran incredible that last quarter-mile," said winning trainer Chad Brown. "I was quite concerned in the far turn that he wasn't getting a hold of the ground very well toward the inside. He was making up no ground. Joel said once he got him in the clear, the ground was a little better on the outside, and he finally hit his stride and started to make his move. I'll tell you, I didn't think this horse was going to win until the wire. Remarkable turn of foot."

Following Maraud in second was Ride a Comet, Gidu, Combatant, Have At It, Westerland, Gunnison and Gemonteer. Sand Dancer and Battle At Sea were scratched.