ELMONT, New York (CMC) — Jamaican jockey Rajiv Maragh snatched a thrilling win aboard Main Sequence in the US$600,000 Grade I Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Stakes here Saturday, but his outing at Belmont Park turned sour when he suffered a broken arm in the next race after taking a heavy spill.
Going off at odds of 2-1 in the trip over one and a half miles, Maragh and Main Sequence recovered from a slow start before getting the better of a stretch duel with Twilight Eclipse to win by a neck in a time of two minutes, 26.32 seconds.
The victory was the third consecutive Grade I win for the five-year-old chestnut gelding in the United States since shipping from England, following victories in the United Nations Stakes in July at Monmouth Park and the Sword Dancer in August at Saratoga.
With the race a Breeders’ Cup Challenge “Win and You’re In” race in the Turf division, it means Main Sequence will now head to the prestigious series at Santa Anita in the first week of November.
All this was marred, however, in the very next race – race 11 – when Maragh took a tumble while aboard Wicked Strong in the US$1 million Grade I Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes.
The three-year-old colt clipped heels with 7-2 bet Moreno and went down on the far turn during the trip over a mile-and-a-quarter. Maragh lay motionless on the track for several moments after the fall before being stretchered off and rushed to North Shore Hospital on Long Island complaining of pain in his right arm.
Moreno, ridden by Junior Alvarado, finished fourth but was disqualified and placed last, after a stewards’ enquiry found the pair had drifted over to the inside and into the path of Wicked Strong, causing the spill.
Favourite Tonalist, the Belmont Stakes winner, went on to win the race.
Things were a lot brighter for Maragh in the preceding hour when he produced a superb drive to get Main Sequence up late.
He was then forced to undergo an anxious wait as a result of a stewards’ enquiry into an incident in the stretch when Main Sequence and Twilight Eclipse bumped.
“When he made the lead, it was a little sooner than we wanted,” Maragh said.
“He started loafing a little bit. I tried to make him see the other horse, and a little contact happened. I felt like I was going to be okay on the inquiry, but it was nerve-wracking.”
Imagining set sluggish fractions through the opening stages, posting 26.53 seconds for the quarter and 50.89 for the half-mile, with Real Solution stalking from second, and Medal Count and Twilight Agenda keeping in touch.
Main Sequence, who broke slowly, raced from fifth before being roused on the far turn as the pace quickened. In the stretch, Imagining faded slowly as Main Sequence and Twilight Eclipse battled to the wire.
In the last eighth, Twilight Eclipse drifted out and Main Sequence also drifted in, resulting in a bump, which was questioned by the connections of Twilight Eclipse afterward, but the result was allowed to stand.
Twilight Eclipse earned US$360,000 from the win to take his lifetime earnings to US$1.6 million.
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Maragh wins Joe Hirsch shoot-out but breaks arm in spill
