Smashing stakes bow for Rockport Harbor
Fox Hill Farm’s ROCKPORT HARBOR (Unbridled’s Song) came to New
York off of a pair of spectacular performances at Philadelphia
Park and lived up to the pre-race hype with an impressive 6
1/4-length victory in Tuesday’s $109,500 Nashua S. (G3). With
jockey Stewart Elliott sitting high in the saddle like a statue,
the gray two-year-old colt captured his stakes bow in
wire-to-wire fashion.
Trained by John Servis and based at Philly Park, Rockport
Harbor drew comparisons to Smarty Jones prior to Tuesday’s
Election Day co-feature at Aqueduct. Like this year’s dual
classic winner, he’s a late-blooming juvenile who captured his
first two starts in convincing fashion. Smarty Jones also shipped
to Aqueduct to win his third career outing over stakes rivals by
daylight.
Servis isn’t willing to compare the two yet, however.
“There is not a lot of comparisons between him and Smarty
Jones,” the conditioner said. “His (Rockport Harbor)
big asset is that he has such a huge stride and that he covers a
lot of ground. The only thing that I told Stew (Stewart Elliott)
was to start schooling him right now. I wanted to teach him to
settle the whole way. I was really impressed. This was a good
test for him. There were some nice horses in here.”
Elliott also came away very pleased.
“It is always nice to have a good horse to ride. So far
he has done everything we have asked him, just like Smarty. It is
still a long way down the road to see what happens. He is
definitely a good horse. Things look good.”
Rockport Harbor dueled early through an opening quarter in :22
4/5 and then began to edge away on the backstretch, turning the
next two splits in :45 2/5 and 1:10. He entered the stretch drive
with an expanding advantage and finished a mile over the fast
track in 1:36 3/5. The 4-5 favorite paid $3.80, $2.50 and $2.30.
Defer (Danzig), who was coming off a nice debut maiden win for
trainer Shug McGaughey, edged Better Than Bonds
(Sweetsouthernsaint) by a head for second and was worth $3.40 and
$2.80. Show returned $2.60. Both the runner-up and third-place
finisher were off at 7-2.
The exotics gave back $14 (exacta) and $29.40 (3-7-2
trifecta). Completing the order of finish were Doctor Voodoo
(Petionville), Reverberate (Thunder Gulch) and Favalora
(Untuttable). All Trumps (Grand Slam) was scratched.
Bred in the Bluegrass State by Heiligbrodt Racing Stable and
Taylor Made Farm Inc., Rockport Harbor was purchased for $470,000
at the 2003 Keeneland September sale and has now bankrolled
$90,300 from his three wins. He broke his maiden by 8 3/4 lengths
and then captured an allowance race by 7 1/2. Out of the
stakes-winning Regal Miss Copelan (Copelan), he has a weanling
half-brother by Forestry.
Servis said Rockport Harbor would probably be given the rest
of the year off and point toward the Southwest S. early in the
Oaklawn meet.