BY BROCK SHERIDAN
Alex and JoAnn Lieblong’s Reef Runner saved ground in the turn behind leaders then tipped out at the top of the stretch to run down John the Beer Man and Ag Bullet in deep stretch and win the Grade 1 Jaipur by a half-length at Saratoga Race Course Saturday. The Florida-bred gelding defeated nine other 3-year-olds and older sprinting five-and-a-half-furlongs on the grass in the $500,000 Jaipur, a Breeders’ Cup Challenge Win and You’re In for the Grade 1 Prevagen Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G1) to be run October 31 at Keeneland.
The Grade 1 win outside Florida by Reef Runner also earns the Lieblongs as breeders a $7,500 Export Incentive paid by the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association.
It was the second win in three starts this year for Reef Runner, who took the Group 2 1351 Turf Sprint presented by Qiddiya City at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Riyadh on February 14. Next on March 29, he traveled to Dubai for the Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint presented by Azizi Developments going a straight six furlongs on the Meydan Racecouse turf but finished fourth behind winner Native Approach (GB).
Ag Bullet was quickest to start from post six in the Jaipur with Reef Runner off well to his inside and John the Beer Man right there after starting from gate six. John the Beer Man blazed through a :21.19 first quarter mile with Ag Bullet a length back in second while Irad Ortiz Jr. was content to keep Reef Runner tucked in on the rail in third.
Ag Bullet and John the Beer Man hit the top the stretch heads apart as Reef Runner slipped to their outside and began to wear down the leaders. Reef Runner got the edge in the final strides to finish in 1:00.02, just more than a fifth of a second off Cogburn’s track record of :59.80 set in the 2024 Jaipur. Ag Bullet was second by a neck ahead of John the Beer Man in third. They were followed by Twenty Six Black, My Boy Prince, Litigation, Bold Journey, Governor Sam, Works for Me and Clock Tower.
Reef Runner paid $12.48 to win as the third choice at 5-1.
The $275,000 first-place money pushed Reef Runner past the $2 million mark in earnings to $2,177,580. That moves the David Fawkes-trained 5-year-old to twenty-ninth on the all-time list of Florida-bred money earners behind Imperial Hint with $2,209,055 and ahead of C Z Rocket at $2,144,691. It was his third career graded stakes victory along with the 1351 Turf Spring and the Grade 2 Eddie D at Santa Anita in September of last year.
Since being gelded in July of last year, Reef Runner has crossed the wire first in six of eight starts although he was disqualified and placed second behind Motorious (GB) for interference early in the Grade 3 Green Flash at Del Mar in August.
Reef Runner improved his lifetime record to nine wins, five seconds and five thirds in 25 starts.
He is by the Lieblong’s stallion The Big Beast out of winner Paradise Bay, by Blame. Also raced by the Lieblongs, Paradise Bay has three winners from four starters and five foals including Florida-bred stakes-winner Big Paradise, a full brother to Reef Runner trained by Fawkes. Big Paradise won the $81,000 Juvenile Sprint at Gulfstream Park in 2024. Paradise Bay has an unnamed yearling filly by Omaha Beach and a weanling colt by Life is Good.
The Lieblongs purchased Paradise bay as a yearling at the 2017 Keeneland September Yearling Sale for $350,000.
Return to the June 6 issue of Wire to Wire
