Max Player Outduels Mystic Guide To Take Suburban At Belmont
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Max Player passes Mystic Guide in the waning strides of the Grade 2 Suburban Stakes at Belmont Park.
Max Player's last win came 17 months ago in the Grade 3 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct. In Saturday's Grade 2 Suburban Stakes, the son of Honor Code finally returned to the winner's circle after his long absence, and, in the process, earned a spot in the starting gate for the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar Nov. 6.
Sloppy after a deluge earlier in the day, the Belmont surface had been kinder to horses running away from the rail, which is where jockey Ricardo Santana, Jr. placed Max Player early in the ten-furlong Suburban, just off of leader Moretti. From the break, Moretti held a length advantage over Max Player on his outside and Mystic Guide on his inside, Happy Saver just behind them. In a race that had been billed as another battle between Happy Saver and Mystic Guide, it was Moretti that did all of the early running, with the rest of the field content to wait for the right moment to make their move.