Florida-bred Clement Rock improved to 2-for-2 on Woodbine’s turf course Saturday, rallying for a 2 ¼-length victory in his stakes debut, the $101,585 Charlie Barley. The colt is a homebred for Eugene Melnyk of Ocala’s Winding Oaks Farm, which stands Clement Rock’s sire, Strong Hope.
Clement Rock made his career debut for trainer Malcolm Pierce on a sloppy Fair Grounds track in March and finished last of 11. He was then transferred to trainer Mark Casse and won in his next start, taking a $61,000 maiden special weight race by half a length on the Woodbine lawn June 10.
That performance made Clement Rock the 3-1 second choice in a field of eight 3-year-olds for the Charlie Barley, but the colt ran like a favorite. With Woodbine’s leading rider, Luis Contreras, aboard for the second straight race, Clement Rock raced in midpack as Something Extra led the field through a quarter-mile in 24.26 seconds and a half-mile in 48.27.
Clement Rock was blocked in upper stretch, but Contreras steered him to the inside, where they found room to run. He powered past Something Extra down the lane and stopped the clock in 1:36.59 for one mile on a turf course labeled “good.”
“He’s a really nice horse. He likes to run, and he likes to win,” said Contreras. “He can come from wherever he wants.”
Clement Rock, out of the Tabasco Cat mare Ellesmere, paid $8.50 to win. Something Extra held second place, a neck in front of Thundering Waters in third. It was 1 ¾ lengths farther back to the favored Walker’s Landing, who entered the race off a runner-up effort in the $171,000 Marine Stakes on Woodbine’s synthetic surface in May.
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— Photo of Florida-bred Clement Rock by Michael Burns
