Daveron and Straight Story captured a pair of grade III turf events that highlighted the Kentucky Derby Day card before 11,051 at Belmont Park May 7.
Favored Daveron, a German-bred 6-year-old mare trained by Graham Motion for Team Valor International -- the same connections that captured the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) with Animal Kingdom a little later in the day -- charged to the front in the stretch for jockey Eddie Castro and held on for a neck victory over Gitchee Goomie in the $98,000 Beaugay Stakes (VIDEO).
Three races later, 5-year-old Straight Story went to the front for Carlos Marquez Jr. in the $98,000 Fort Marcy Stakes and never looked back, prevailing by a neck over favored Hudson Steele for his first graded stakes win for owner Richard Santulli and trainer Alan Goldberg (VIDEO).
Daveron, a daughter of Black Sam Bellamy out of the Acatenango mare Darwinia, also earned her first grade stakes victory while improving her career mark to 5-3-1 in 14 starts with earnings of $217,642. Bred by Carlton Consultants, she began her career in Germany and also raced in France. The Beaugay was her first start since she ran second in the Long Island Handicap (gr. IIIT) at Aqueduct last November.
Her final time for the 1 1/16 miles was 1:42.99 over an inner turf course rated “good.”
Daveron returned $5.50 for a $2 win wager. Gitchee Goomie, ridden by Alex Solis, finished three lengths clear of Bet On the Blue and Channing Hill. They were followed by Ainamaa and Comic Marvel.
In the Fort Marcy, Straight Story, off since Oct. 23, broke on top for Marquez and set reasonable early fractions (:24.25, :48.78), digging in late when challenged by Hudson Steele.
A New York-bred son of Giant's Causeway --Eventail, by Lear Fan, Straight Story stopped the clock at 1:41.84 for 1 1/16 miles over the Widener turf and returned $8.30 as the 3-1 third-choice.
Straight Story, bred by Gallagher's Stud, has now earned $641,778 with a record of 6-6-0 from 18 starts.
Hudson Steele, ridden by Jose Lezcano, was second by 1 1/2 lengths over Sal the Barber and Cornelio Velasquez. Mikoshi and Riviera Cocktail followed.