Staff Report
Jockey Orlando Bocachica
Sunday, September 14 – One of the major stories at Gulfstream Park this year has been the emergence of Lochte as a local turf star who also has become a national name in turf stakes.
Lochte showed his liking for Gulfstream again on Saturday as he beat Dreams Cut Short by a half-length in the $75,000 Vid Stakes. Grand Tito finished third, three-quarters of a length behind Dreams Cut Short in the 1 1/16 mile race for 3-year-olds and up.
The win was Lochte’s fourth in five starts at Gulfstream, the only track where he has a victory. He also has three second place finishes and five third place finishes in 17 total starts.
The Vid was Lochte’s first race at Gulfstream since last Feb. 9 when he won the Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap (Grade1) at 39-1.
In between he raced six times in stakes and high level allowance/optional claiming races outside Florida. His best finish was second place in the ank Kilroe Mile (Grade 1) at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif.
“He loves Gulfstream,” trainer Marcus Vitali said of Lochte. “Today, he showed he’s a horse for the course.”
In The Vid, Lochte was the 2-1 favorite in a ten-horse field. He was ridden by his regular jockey Orlando Bocachica and showed his usual late-running style.
Lochte was in sixth place along the inside entering the stretch run. Bocachica maneuvered him to the outside where he began passing horses and took the lead fifty yards from the wire.
Dreams Cut Short rallied from ninth place entering the stretch to finish second.
Lochte won in 1:43.83 on a turf course that was listed as “good.” The time probably would have been at least a second faster on a firm course.
Lochte is owned by Crossed Sabres Farm. He is a Kentucky-bred son of Medaglia d’Oro, a multiple graded stakes winner on dirt between 2002 and 2004. Lochte’s maternal grand sire Lemon Drop Kid won the 1999 Belmont Stakes and has gone on to become a leading sire of turf horses.
