NEWS: RACING

Aqua Bel Sar breaks maiden in style in Great White Way, puts sire Trinniberg on the board

Sunday, December 17th, 2017

NYRA/Chelsea Durand

By Sarah Mace

Aqua Bel Sar, a homebred for Ryan Racing Inc. trained by Bisnath Parboo, achieved several significant milestones in Aqueduct’s Sunday feature, the 6-furlong, $150,000 New York Stallion Series (NYSS) Great White Way for eligible New York-sired 2-year-olds.

For himself, a maiden and second-time starter, Aqua Bel Sar delivered a gutsy performance to score his first career victory. He made a confident and aggressive move on the turn to gain the lead, and dug in to wrest that lead back from Bellville Spring who headed him in late stretch.

For his freshman sire Trinniberg, who has 11 foals of racing age and seven runners to date, Aqua Bel Sar put the stallion on the board with his first winner and first black-type winner. In fact, it was Trinniberg’s day all around, having also sired Bellville Spring, who completed race’s pricy exacta ($231 for a $1 bet).

For the New York Stallion series, Aqua Bel Sar, whose name is apparently derived from the three tracks of the NYRA circuit, completed a weekend of longshot juvenile NYSS winners, rivaling the Fifth Avenue victory on Saturday of Aunt Babe at odds of 39-1, when he won the Great White Way at 37-1.

Breaking from the outside post of seven with jockey Trevor Simpson in the irons, Aqua Bel Sar found himself six-wide, but just one length off leader Dezzer in third along the backstretch. At this stage, the first five horses raced less than three lengths apart through an opening quarter mile of 22.50.

In the far turn, Aqua Bel Sar made a sudden and aggressive move three-wide, and took over the lead. He straightened away and began his sprint to the wire.

With a sixteenth of a mile to go, Bellville Spring, who rallied between horses from mid-pack, challenged and headed Aqua Bel Sar, but the chestnut colt dug in, came again and reclaimed his lead, going on to earn a well-deserved neck victory in a final time of 1:13.43.

Bellville Spring in second finished two lengths ahead of 56-1 Spectacular Kid, while crossing the line next in order were Inalienable Rights, Five Star Bunt, Dezzer and 3-5 favorite Stoney Bennett. [VIDEO REPLAY]

“This horse is a very nice horse and had been training good in the morning and I knew he’d run a good race today,” said Trevor Simpson. “The trainer said the best thing to do is a get a good break from the gate and then he can take it from there. He finished hard; he’s a fighter.”

Parboo said, “He was due to win. And more than win. . . . Horse was green [first time out]. I expected him to win [today]. I couldn’t expect less from him . . . The jockey gets so much instruction. I just said ride your race. You can’t tell a jockey to go to the front, or what to do. You tell the rider to win. That’s the job of a jockey, to win races.”

Parboo, who also trained 2011 New York-bred horse of the year Giant Ryan, could not be more bullish on Aqu Bel Sar’s future.

“His father was a champion New York-bred [sic] stallion. An Eclipse Award Winner. Trinniberg. I want to go to Dubai and this horse is going to take me there . . . This was only a small part of him. He has to go up to the top. You talk about pedigree, I think he has that. His mother, black-type. Father, black-type. Up to the top. That is where you will find him.”

Aqua Bel Sar ($92,750) is the first foal out of Parboo-trained Exclusively Maria, a Florida-bred stakes winner, who has been bred exclusively to Trinniberg and has a yearling filly Trinni Cutie Pie and a weanling colt.

The winner’s sire Trinniberg, also trained by Parboo, is a Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner and was voted 2012 Eclipse champion sprinter. Trinniberg’s other victories include the Grade 2 Woody Stephens, Grade 3 Swale and Grade 3 Bay Shore. Retired at four with $1,553,086 in earnings, he stands at Rockridge Stud in Hudson for a $3,500 fee in 2018.

For the immediate future Parboo has plans close to home for his colt. “We are going to see how he comes back. But, most likely, he will run the races his father ran at Aqueduct. We will aim for the 7-furlong sprint race in April [Grade 3, Bay Shore]. His father Trinniberg won it like nothing. I think he will win it too.”

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