ELMONT, N.Y. --Ricky Hendriks saddled Rosbrian Farm's Zanjabeel, ridden by Jack Kennedy, to win the G1, $175,000 Lonesome Glory Stakes at Belmont on Sept. 6 to make it two G1 stakes in a row for the 5-year-old gelding.
Zanjabeel leads Optimus Prime to the wire in the Lonesome Glory He previously won the $200,000 Calvin Houghland Iroguois at Percy Werner on May 12 after finishing second in both the Temple Gwathmey and the Colonial Cup, all under Ross Geraghty.
"It's been a lot of fun," said Hendriks. "Ross said he wasn't the horse for Saratoga, so we put him away for the summer. We had two horses in the Lonesome Glory, and we decided Ross should ride Optimus Prime, so Jack Kennedy came over from Ireland to ride Zanjabeel. He had ridden him in the Novice at Far Hills last fall. Jack gave him a wonderful ride."
Optimus Prime finished third in the race,
Zanjabeel stayed off the speed and took command in the long flat portion of the race, fending off Hinterland's late challenge to win the 10th running of the Lonesome Glory.
CLARCAM led the eight horse field through all 10 fences.
Kennedy kept the English-bred near the pace, staying a close fourth heading into the final jump, before overtaking stablemate Optimus Prime out of the far turn and Clarcam at the top of the stretch before kicking away to a 1 ¾-length win, completing 2 ½ miles in 4:50.24 on the inner turf course listed as yielding.
"We were tickled to death with Zanjabeel coming off a layoff," Hendriks said. "You just never know how horses are going to run coming off a layoff. We've only had him for about a year, so we don't know him as well as some of the other horses, but he ran a super race.
"I was a little concerned with the ground coming in," he said. "You just never know which horses are going to take to the soft going, but usually with the European breeding, they usually like that softer turf. He's a funny horse, you just never know which horse is going to show up that day. Sometimes, he drops a little farther back out of it and comes along and kinds of runs up and back into it. He's a thinker."
"The plan is for Zanjabeel to go to Far Hills, but we''re not sure what to do with Optimus Prime," said Hendriks. "Maybe the Grand National or the Zeke Ferguson in Virginia. We knew when we bought him that he doesn't like longer distances."
Hendriks saddled another winner, Rosbrian Farm's Specialeyes, to win the Maiden Claiming race at Lexington on Sept. 23 to increase his lead in both Trainers Races Won and Trainer, Money won.
In Races Won, he has 14 wins with Joonathan Sheppard second with 11 wins and Jack Fisher third with 10 wins.
In Money Won, Hendriks has $651.750, with Fisher second with $574,100 and Sheppard third with $363,100.
Rosbrian Farm dominates in Owner, Money Won with $507,450 to Irvin naylor's $264,450 and Hudson River Farms with $206,950.
ZANJABEEL went off as the 8-5 favorite in the Lonesome Glory and paid $5.40 on a $2 win wager.
"I jumped off in third and ended up in fourth, but I had a lovely position," said Kennedy. "He jumped great and traveled very well. He kicked on well off a steady pace. He did everything very well. He seems to have improved since the last time I rode him a year ago at Far Hills. I couldn't believe it when I went out for the parade at how strong he's getting. He's certainly improving."
Hinterland, the longest shot on the board at 33-1, edged Grade 1 New York Turf Writers Cup-winner Optimus Prime by a neck for second.
"Optimus Prime ran a very good race," Hendriks said. "He ran his race. He picked up a lot of weight coming off his win at Saratoga, which when you're getting that close towards the finish, that probably cost him a little bit."
Three Kingdoms, Schoodic, Clarcam and Personal Start completed the order of finish.
Show Court fell over the eighth jump and lost rider Michael Mitchell, but both the horse and jockey were unharmed.
In the opener, 3-1 favorite Boss Man outkicked Ice It by a 1/2 length to capture the seventh running of the $75,000 William Entenmann Memorial in the meet's first steeplechase race.
The Archibald Kingsley, Jr. trainee won over 2 ¼ miles on the inner turf in a final time of 4:12.34, marking it his third victory in four starts.
Boss Man, ridden by Mitchell, returned $8.10 in his first win at Belmont since 2015.
Detroit Blues, No Wunder, City Dreamer, Gibralfaro and Indian Hawk completed the order of finish.
