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).
Trainer David Fawkes credited Nick Esler’s work with Reef Runner when he was sent to his Ocala-based farm for three weeks after returning from Dubai. He also said he’s looking forward to seeing his charge get another opportunity for Breeders’ Cup glory.
“He [Esler] did a great job. He’s had this horse several times for me when he’s been on break,” Fawkes said. “We’re going to point to the Breeders’ Cup and hope for good weather, like this. We got so lucky. I’ve been sweating all week. I was watching the radar. It was spitting a little bit earlier, which was fine. I just didn’t want it to be like Dubai.”
Fawkes had said earlier this week that he thought a soft turf caused by rain in Dubai in the days before the Al Quoz may have compromised Reef Runner.
Last year’s Jaipur winner Ag Bullet was quickest to start from post six Saturday with Reef Runner off well to her inside and John the Beer Man right there coming out of gate six. John the Beer Man blazed to the front quickly thereafter with a :21.19 first quarter mile a length ahead of Ag Bullet in second while jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. on Reef Runner was content to keep 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.
“That was great. When he broke sharp, I was really happy with that,” Ortiz, Jr. said. “He put me in a really good position. He always kicks at the end. He did it on his own. I never hit him. I was full of horse. I just showed the stick at him and he just did the rest. He’s a really nice horse, very consistent and straightforward. Five-and-a-half [furlongs] sometimes doesn’t always go his way. But the way he’s been doing lately, he’s amazing. He’s a strong sprinter. I worked hard to get the win at Saudi, but today I was a little more confident because I knew he would give me that kick, which he did really nicely. I never really squeezed him. He was beautiful. It was a beautiful ride. Definitely a Breeders’ Cup horse.”
Reef Runner paid $12.48 to win as the third choice at 5-1.
“What do you say but, ‘Wow?’ He’s just a really neat horse,” Fawkes said. “Anything you ask him to do, he does. I was happy with him coming in. He was a little nervous in the paddock which I figured might have been first time back in the [United] States jitters, but I wasn’t too worried. Irad said that when he broke, the race was over. He was on the bridle and ready to roll.”
The $275,000 first-place money pushed Reef Runner past the $2 million mark in earnings to $2,177,580. That moves the 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.
–portions of the report were taken directly from a NYRA press release
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