The team of Power Broker and jockey Rosie Napravnik is formidable.
They claimed their second straight victory June 8 when Gary and Mary West's Power Broker secured an early lead in the $150,000 Easy Goer Stakes and then drew off in the Belmont Park stretch (VIDEO) to register his first stakes win since taking last year's FrontRunner Stakes (gr. I) at Santa Anita Park.
With Napravnik in the irons, Power Broker has displayed more early speed than he showed in off-the-board finishes in last year's Grey Goose Breeders' Cup Juvenile (gr. I) and this year's Santa Anita Derby (gr. I). Napravnik guided the Pulpit colt to a clear victory in a May 10 allowance race at Churchill Downs before Saturday's 3 3/4-length score in the Easy Goer.
The added early speed helped on Belmont's drying dirt track as two of the three races before the Easy Goer also saw horses lead at every call. The race was contested on a track labeled good.
Power Broker dueled with Always in a Tiz, who had been considered for the Belmont Stakes (gr. I) before his connections opted for the Easy Goer, through a half-mile in :46.71 before opening a clear advantage late in the turn.
"I didn't have any instructions but I figured we would be close," Napravnik said. "There was actually a nice pace up front. I breezed him a couple of days ago and I knew he was coming into the race on his game. He was running very comfortably the whole way."
Power Broker completed the 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-olds in 1:41.55. Repole Stable's Micromanage never threatened the winner but rallied for second in the stretch, earning the first stakes-placing of his career. Shadwell Stable's Irsaal also nailed down his first career stakes-placing, finishing third.
Favored Power Broker paid $4.70, $3.50, and $2.60. Micromanage returned $8 and $5, and Irsaal paid $3.40.
Bred in Kentucky by Jamm Ltd., Power Broker is out of the Wild Again mare Shop Again.
The Easy Goer, contested as race six on Saturday's Belmont card, was the first of six scheduled stakes on the program.