Run Curtis Run and jockey Jose Ortiz roll by the field in the stretch to win Sunday’s $120,000 Carle Place Stakes. NYRA Photo.
Run Curtis Run’s connections figured the New York-bred colt would appreciate some class relief, along with a return to a more favorable distance back in his native state, and the son of Summer Front proved them correct in Sunday’s $120,000 Carle Place Stakes at the Belmong at the Big A meeting.
“This horse has run his heart out,” said Michael Dubb, who co-owns Run Curtis Run with Michael Caruso. “He’s been a longshot in his last three races and has gotten no respect. He’s been a bridesmaid each time. I thought today he would like being back in New York and the 6 furlongs.
“The horses he had been facing, he was getting a bit of class relief today, but this was still a nice group of horses. I thought it all might gel together today.”
Ridden by Jose Ortiz, Run Curtis Run overcame a squeeze at the start and closed from last of nine to win the open-company stakes by 1 1/2 lengths over Grooms All Bizness with 2-1 favorite Outlaw Kid third and fellow New York-bred Just Jeremy fourth. Run Curtis Run won in 1:09.43 over the firm turf.
“I was squeezed very hard,” Ortiz said of the break. “It felt like [Grooms All Bizness] came over to me. It was a terrible trip and definitely not what we wanted to see out of the gate. But I felt like my horse was running with better horses and I gave him his shot to show off his class, and he did. It’s very hard to close on this soft ground of the outer turf, and he did. That shows that he was the best horse in this race by far.”
Second in his last three starts – an allowance at Churchill Downs, the Grade 2 Quick Call Stakes at Saratoga Race Course and the Grade 2 Franklin Simpson Stakes at Kentucky Downs – Run Curtis Run won for the first time since the Rick Violette Stakes in July 2021 at Saratoga.
Trained by Mike Maker, Run Curtis Run also placed in the William Walker Stakes on the grass at Churchill this spring and finished second in last year’s Grade 3 Futurity at Belmont Park. The Carle Place victory, worth $66,000, improved Run Curtis Run’s record to 3-4-1 in 10 starts with earnings of $317,300.
Bred by Larry Goichman and foaled at Edition Farm in Hyde Park, Run Curtis Run is the sixth foal out of the stakes-winning Grade 3-placed Forest Wildcat mare My Magic Moment. Bred in New York and raced by Goichman, My Magic Moment earned $149,813 during three seasons, winning the Missy Moo I Love You Stakes and finishing third in the Grade 3 Miss Grillo Stakes in 2008 and placing in two stakes in 2009.
Goichman, through consignor Indian Creek, sold Run Curtis Run for $45,000 to Sean S. Perl Bloodstock LLC at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Eastern fall yearling sale.
My Magic Moment is the dam of three winners – Run Curtis Run, the New York-bred Candy Ride mare Candy for Kisses and the New York-bred Pulpit gelding Bold Bid. She’s also the dam of the unraced 2-year-old New York-bred Accelerate filly The Couples Girl and a weanling colt by Catalina Cruiser born Feb. 25.
