Speightstown’s sensational 4-year-old emerged victorious in a nail-biting finish in Saturday’s $350,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt H. (G1), edging The Big Beast by a nose to sixth straight victory.
Rock Fall is Speightstown’s 13th lifetime Grade 1 winner. His nine stakes winners in 2015 have accounted for some 15 stakes wins, six of them graded. With nearly $6.5 million in progeny earnings to date, Speightstown ranks fifth on this year’s General Sire list.
Rock Fall, who has not lost since his debut in April, faced his sternest test to date in the Vanderbilt. Tracking four-wide a few lengths back down the backstretch, the dark bay colt set his sights on pacesetters Favorite Tale and The Big Beast coming into the stretch.
Favorite Tale began to fade, while The Big Beast looked to have plenty of run left in him with a furlong to go. Rock Fall, on the outside under Javier Castellano, began to narrow the margin, and that pair hit the wire together as track announcer proclaimed it “too close to call”.
Rock Fall was proclaimed the winner by a nose after six furlongs in a scintillating 1:08.75, just 3/5ths of a second off the track record. His Beyer Speed Figure of 106 was his third consecutive triple digit number.
“He finished powerfully and we were fortunate to be on the right side of a very close head bob,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “It’s tough to win a photo against a horse as big as The Big Beast. If you’re head-and-head, he’s got a head on you. We got a fortunate bob and it was a great horse race.”
“He was a really nice horse the way he did it today, off the pace,” Castellano added. “There was a lot of speed in the race and he covered up perfect. Turning for home, I let him go outside. That’s where he likes it and it paid off today. My horse fought back to win the race. I give all the credit to him.”
Owned by Stonestreet Stables, Rock Fall was bred in Kentucky by SF Bloodstock, out of the Medaglia d’Oro mare Renda, and was a $250,000 purchase at the 2012 Fasig-Tipton New York Saratoga select yearling sale. His record now stands at six wins from seven starts for earnings of $509,180, including a win in the True North S. (G2) on June 5.
