by Teresa Genaro
Two years ago this weekend, New York-bred Disco Partner won an allowance/optional claimer at Belmont. He’d run in a few stakes races at that point, but hadn’t yet graduated in that company.
Last year on this weekend, he was fourth in the Belmont Turf Sprint Invitational, following a win in the Troy Stakes at Saratoga.
This year, the five-year-old has elevated his game, coming to the Belmont Turf Sprint Invitational with three wins to his credit in 2017, one of them the Jaipur (G3) in which he set a world record time of 1:05.67 for six furlongs.
His return to Belmont was a triumphant one on Saturday, as he won the Turf Sprint Invitational with ease. The gray improved his record this year to four wins in five races, his only loss coming in the Fourstardave (G1) at Saratoga in August.
Facing only four rivals, Disco Partner was reunited with jockey Irad Ortiz Jr., who’d been in the saddle for the horse’s previous three victories. Racing in fourth behind a quick pace set by longshot Bold Thunder, the two were unhurried, waiting until the pacesetter tired to effortlessly pass the three horses in front of them. Disco Partner easily won by 1 1/4 lengths in a final time of 1:06.97 for six furlongs on the firm inner turf.
“He just played with them,” trainer Christophe Clement said. “Irad was always in control.”
The win was the Patricia Generazio homebred’s ninth in 20 races, for earnings of nearly $824,000.
“He loves Belmont,” Clement commented about the horse that’s four-for-four on the Belmont grass this year. “This was like a morning workout for him.”
“He probably wasn’t as fast today as he was (when he set the world record),” said Ortiz, “but he is still a nice horse. I think he is one of the best sprinters around right now.”
The son of Disco Rico out of the Numerous mare Lulu’s Number, Disco Partner has never won at the five-furlong distance of the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G1), though Ortiz told Clement after the race that he was confident that the gray horse could do it.
Two factors further complicate the Breeders’ Cup picture: the fact that Disco Partner isn’t nominated for this year’s event at Del Mar and the presence in Clement’s barn of Pure Sensation, another Generazio homebred and the winner of two Grade 3 races this year. Pure Sensation was third in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint last year.
“I’m very lucky I have two top-class sprinters,” Clement said. “(The Generazios) can make the decision on who goes to the Breeders’ Cup. It’s a great problem to have. If they want, I’ll take both of them.”
