(from Belmont Park report)
Lansdon B. Robbins III’s Legal Consent scored his third straight victory at Belmont Park June 21, holding off a late rally from Slevin to take the $105,500 Mike Lee Stakes (VIDEO) for New York-breds.
Ridden by Ramon Dominguez, the 3-year-old son of Officer tracked Lookin at Her and That's Rich through an opening quarter-mile in :23.31, then moved up to challenge on the turn. After taking the lead at the top of the lane, Legal Consent hung on to win by a half-length. He covered the seven furlongs over the muddy, sealed track in 1:24.72.
“After he took the lead, when he felt the other horses coming to him, he dug in,” said Dominguez, the leading rider at Belmont Park who is now three-for-four aboard Legal Consent.
Sent off at 3-10 by the Father’s Day crowd, Legal Consent returned $2.60, $2.20, and $2.10. In extending his lifetime record to 4-4-1 from 10 starts, he earned $63,300 to boost his bankroll to $372,343.
“Sometimes there’s a lot of pressure when you’re 2-5,” said winning trainer Carlos Martin.
Legal Consent had back-to-back wins in an allowance and an overnight stakes prior to the Mike Lee, the first leg of the OTB’s Big Apple Triple.
Martin said the next start for Legal Consent would be the next leg of the Big Apple Triple, the $150,000, New York Derby over 1 1/16 miles at Finger Lakes July 11. The series concludes with the 1 1/8-mile Albany Stakes at Saratoga Race Course Aug. 26. Last year, Tin Cup Chalice became the first horse to sweep all three races, earning his owners a $250,000 bonus.
“Legal Consent won a $300,000 race (New York Breeders’ Futurity) there as a 2-year-old last year,” said Martin. “It’s a mile and a sixteenth, but he loves the track, and hopefully that will get him the distance.”
Slevin returned $3.50 and $2.40. That's Rich paid $2.90 to show. Completing the order of the Mike Lee finish were Lookin at Her and Monte Carlo. Katskill Bay was scratched.
