(Edited Keeneland report)
Jade’s Revenge, who could have been claimed for $40,000 six months ago, won Keeneland’s $150,000 Ben Ali Stakes (gr. III) {VIDEO}Thursday in a four-horse photo finish.
Roused into the lead on the turn by jockey Kent Desormeaux, the 4-year-old son of Quiet American turned back Minister’s Joy and Mustanfar to win for the fifth time in 18 career starts.
A nose separated Jade’s Revenge and Minister’s Joy at the finish of the 1 1/8-mile race timed in 1:49.93. It was another nose back to third-place Mustanfar, who was a neck in front of Stream Cat.
Graham Motion trains Jade’s Revenge on a synthetic surface in Maryland. Like the colt’s previous win in the Tejano Run Stakes in March at Turfway Park, Thursday’s Ben Ali was run on Polytrack, a largely synthetic surface.
“Graham gave me perfect instructions,” said Desormeaux. “He thought the horse was kind of one-paced. (He said) ‘If you get to slow it down, take it to ‘em early.’ We look it to them at the half and he was the one who ran them into the ground and sustained at the end.”
The victory by Desormeaux atoned for a loss in the third race when he misjudged the finish line aboard runner-up Ms. Sabbatical. Keeneland has two finish lines on the main track and Desormeaux along with jockey Elvin Trujillo, who rode eventual winner Lear’s Princess, stopped riding at the sixteenth pole.
“I chose the wrong line to stand up at,” Desormeaux said. “I’m so apologetic to the fans, but this kind of eases the pain a little bit.”
Jade’s Revenge increased his career earnings to $219,948 for Bushwood Stables. He paid $54.20, $22 and $13.40 as one of the outsiders in the field of 11 4-year-olds and upward. Minister’s Joy returned $13 and $9 and Mustanfar paid $9 to show.
Following fourth-place Stream Cat came Rathor, Palladio, Saint Stephen, Chatain, Eccentric, Welcome Again and Greeley’s Legacy.