Buttonwood Farm’s All the Way Jose proved best by 1 1/4 lengths in Thursday’s $150,000 Lonesome Glory Steeplechase (NSA-G1) at Belmont Park with jockey Darren Nagle aboard.
The duo tracked behind the pacesetting Charminster before taking over between the eighth and ninth hurdles. All the Way Jose kept on motoring up front, easily turning away 9-5 favorite Modem to finish 2 1/2 miles over the national fences in 4:33.37 on the firm turf.
“There wasn’t any real plan, I just wanted to ride the horse to suit him best, which was to not rush him early, but once he got into stride, to not check his momentum,” Nagle said. “I just wanted to let him roll. His stride is his biggest asset so you better use it.
“I think he’s more of a three-mile horse, so he’s pretty constant in his stamina. Even though it was a 2 1/2-mile race, I wanted to ride it like a three-mile race to suit my horse. I could’ve looked stupid, but it went right to plan. It couldn’t have worked out any better than that.”
All the Way Jose paid $8.70 as the 3-1 third choice in the eight-jumper field. Modem stalked from midpack before putting in his run in the lane, securing second by a neck over Swansea Mile. It was another three parts of a length back to Casino Markets, who was followed under the wire by Mr. Hot Stuff, Charminster, Hinterland and Simenon.
All the Way Jose earned his first Grade 1 score in this spot, adding it to a victory in the Foxbrook Champion Hurdle at Far Hill in 2014. The Jonathan Sheppard-trained son of Senor Swinger boasts four stakes placings on his resume, including a third in the New York Turf Writers Cup Steeplechase (NSA-G1) last out at Saratoga.
“He jumped great, Darren gave him a good and patient ride,” said Sheppard, who earned his first Lonesome Glory victory. “I thought he would possibly be in front heading into the last jump and then I was concerned of the long finish he would have to sustain, but he just kept on galloping. He hung on and got the job done, it was great.”
All the Way Jose improved his scorecard to read 23-5-5-2 and has now banked $306,500 in lifetime earnings with this win.
One race earlier at Belmont, Bruton Street-US’ Moscato lived up to his 3-5 favoritism with a 3 1/2-length victory in the $75,000 William Entenmann Memorial Hurdle.
The gray son of Hernando set a course record when stopping the clock for the 2 1/4-mile jump contest in 3:56.56 with jockey Sean McDermott aboard. The previous record of 4:02.26 was set by Popular Gigalo on June 3, 1999.
“He has an abundance of stamina and he can gallop on for a long time,” McDermott said. “He generally burns them off. I was surprised he got off the bridle that early but he’s very honest and very tough.”
Moscato captured the Michael G. Walsh Novice most recently on August 23 at Saratoga, and has now triumphed in four of his six races since coming stateside for trainer Jack Fisher, with the other two being runner-up performances.
“He had run a couple times over there (in Europe) not that brilliantly,” said Fisher, whose 17 wins leads all steeplechase trainers this year. “I didn’t think he was a great horse when he first came to us. At Saratoga, I thought (in) his first start he was a little bit unlucky. There was a little bumping on the turn and that wasn’t the best. His last race he demolished them and this is obviously the next best step.”
Moscato is now 23-9-5-0, $219,372, in his career.
