Ron Correll
Senior columnist

Charitable Man stamped himself as one of the top 2-year-olds on the East Coast when he won the Futurity by a measured length over Flying Pegasus on Saturday at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

The son of Lemon Drop Kid, who won the Futurity in 1998,  backed up his runaway win at Saratoga where he broke his maiden on Aug. 10 by more than 11 lengths. In that race, he went right to the lead in the six-and-a-half furlong affair and never looked back. In the Futurity, he broke a little slower and was sixth a quarter of a mile into the seven-furlong race.

Jockey Alan Garcia was in no hurry with Charitable Man along the backstretch and let the colt find his best stride. They moved up to fourth at the half-mile mark in :46.97 seconds and Charitable Man looked full of run.

Garcia took Charitable Man five wide rounding the turn and when Garcia pulled the trigger at the quarter pole, the colt went along willingly. He passed Flying Pegasus at the eighth-pole and edged away under a vigorous hand ride by Garcia. The winning time for the race was 1:24.30.

Friesan Fire was third and Girolamo was fourth.

Charitable Man and Girolamo are both trained by Kiaran McLaughlin and he was proud of both his colts after the race. “We’re just very happy that one of them won, and Alan (Garcia) chose the right one. Girolamo ran well, too. He kind of had trouble. Charitable Man is a very nice horse with very nice owners. Hopefully, he will have a very bright future. He was a little wide the whole way, which didn’t help him. We’re looking ahead to the Champagne (Grade 1, $400,000, two-year-olds, one mile, Belmont Park, Oct. 4).” 

Garcia thinks he has his 2009 Kentucky Derby horse. “Kiaran picked this one (Charitable Man) because the other one is going to Dubai and this one is going to stay here. He wants to go longer. He’s going to the Kentucky Derby.”

DOREMIFASOLLATIDO WINS MATRON

On the filly side, Doremifasollatido won the seven-furlong Matron in come-from-behind fashion. She broke from the one hole and stayed on the rail under jockey Eibar Coa to save ground.

Miss Ocean City and Argyle Pink were doing all the dirty work early setting fractions of :22.45 and :46.03 seconds for the quarter and half-mile. Doremifasollatido needed running room at the top of the stretch and busted between the top pair to gain the lead.

Coa kept her busy the last eighth of a mile and she pulled off to win by two lengths in 1:24.74. Persistently came on to grab second, seven lengths in front of Argyle Pink in third. Obsequious was fourth.

 ”In her (Doremifasollatido) last race, she got into contending position while she was losing ground and got tired late. But she hung on gamely for second. That was a big effort. I told Eibar today, ‘Hopefully she will break good and we can sit there for awhile.’ She was up close without any effort. Her rhythm got broken a little bit at the top of the stretch, but she showed a lot of grit. Eibar makes them do that,” trainer Jimmy Jerkens said.

“It was supposed to be a fast race. It’s about your horse showing up. She showed up today, broke easily and showed ability and heart,” Coa said.