Roaring Lion; Fantastico Roberto win at Monmouth
July 6, 2010OCEANPORT, N.J. (AP) -Repole Stable's Roaring Lion captured the Mr. Prospector Stakes and Fantastico Roberto won the Choices Stakes in the co-featured $100,000 races at Monmouth Park on Monday.
Roaring Lions reeled in pacesetter Unwritten and held off the charge of Wildcat Brief by a nose in capturing the Mr. Prospector.
The Bruce Levine-trained 6-year-old winner covered the six furlongs on the main track in 1:09. The Eddie Castro-ridden horse paid $10.40, $6.20 and $4.80 in winning for the 10th time in 26 career starts.
Wildcat Brief paid $8.40 and $6.40. It was another length back to Unwritten, who returned $5.80 to show.
``The race set up just as we thought,'' Castro said. ``We were able to sit right behind the two leaders. In the stretch, he ran on well and dug in to hold off the other horse.''
Fantastico Roberto scored a front-running 3 1/4-length win in The Choice Stakes, covering the course in 1:47.1.
Trained by Todd Pletcher, Fantastico Roberto paid $6.40, $4 and $2.80 as the favorite in the field of six 3-year-old-old colts and geldings. They Call Me Giant paid $3.80 and $3. Devon Rock paid $3.20 for show.
``We planned to sit close to the pace, but he took me right to the lead out of the gate,'' jockey John Velazquez said. ``I tried to get him to relax as much as I could down the backside and he did for a bit, but as soon as the horses came back to us, he was right back in the bridle. We came to the three-eighths pole and I was very confident.''