With Belmont Park recently reopened and racing underway there this fall, the Oct. 1 Gallant Bloom Stakes (G2) was run at a different track than in 2025, when the Belmont meet was staged at Aqueduct Racetrack.
But as in 2025, the end result was the same. Averill Racing and Anthony Mattera's R Disaster repeated as a front-running winner in the $242,500 race.
Rebounding from a distant sixth-place finish in the Aug. 29 Ballerina Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course, the grade 1-winning mare had too much speed and class for her four rivals. Leading Munnings Express through splits of :22.67 and :45.78 in the 6 1/2-furlong race, she had plenty left to turn that one aside and outlast Senza Parole's stalking rally for a 1 1/4-length victory. She crossed the wire in 1:16.17 under Jose Ortiz on a fast Belmont track.
Runner-up Senza Parole, bidding up the rail, loomed when advancing in the stretch, but her momentum stalled in the final furlong after she swapped her leads once angled outside of the winner in midstretch.
Beauty Reigns was 4 1/4 lengths behind Senza Parole in third. Munnings Express and Queen Jubilee completed the order of finish.
Saffie Joseph Jr. trains R Disaster, who paid $3.02 as the favorite.
Thursday's win was her third in five starts this year, following victories in the first half of the season in the March 7 Hurricane Bertie Stakes (G3) at Gulfstream Park and the May 2 Derby City Distaff Stakes (G1) at Churchill Downs. She is 10-for-18 overall with nearly $1.5 in earnings.
The winner, bred by Ocala Stud and J. Michael O'Farrell Jr. in Florida, is a 5-year-old mare by Awesome Slew out of the Gottcha Gold mare Making Havoc. She is one of two black-type horses for her dam, the other being R One Way, a Colonel Liam 2-year-old filly who placed in the Three Ring Stakes at Gulfstream Park this year.
The Oct. 31 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1T) at Keeneland is likely next.
"We know we only had one work into this race, but she should move forward now," Joseph said. "We had to wait with an issue and that's the way it worked out. We knew we had to run in the Ballerina, win, lose or draw because we needed her to get her fitness level back. And today, we're back on track with her, and all being well, I think we'll give her a shot in the Breeders' Cup."
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Shelzawa Takes Winter Memories in Stakes Debut
A race after the Gallant Bloom, a clear path for an extended rally made all the difference for last-to-first winner Shelzawa in the $200,000 Winter Memories Stakes (G3T) for 3-year-old fillies.
Jockey Flavien Prat had her in high gear leaving the turn of the mile turf race, and his mount beat Sister Troienne to an outside lane early in the stretch. Getting the jump on that rival was all the advantage she needed. Though Sister Troienne ultimately secured running room under Junior Alvarado after being stymied in traffic, her bid to catch Shelzawa came too late.
The winner prevailed by three-quarters of a length over Sister Troienne, who finished a length ahead of Crossover Capital in third. Shelzawa ran a mile on a firm Belmont turf course in 1:34.86, closing from 4 to 5 1/2 lengths behind fractions of :24.46 and :47.34 set by eventual ninth-place finisher Alone Time. Shelzawa, the ever-so-slight favorite over Sister Troienne, returned $6.80 to win.
Chad Brown conditions Shelzawa, a 3-year-old filly by Zelzal out of the Dr Fong mare Shendama, for owners Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb, Bill Strauss, William Rucker, and Michael Caruso. She is 3-2-1 in six starts, with the last four of those coming for Brown after she was imported from France. The Winter Memories marked her first start in stakes company after two confidence-building wins against maiden and allowance optional claiming opposition this summer at Saratoga.
Brown said, "Flavien rode a great race, a little inside-out trip there. He slipped inside my retreating (No.) 4 horse (Hand Over Heart) and then got to the clear, which was the winning move, and she really came through."
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Egyptian Mau Rallies Up Fence to Take Belmont Turf Sprint
A favorable trip also proved key in the $200,000 Belmont Turf Sprint Stakes (G3T), in which Egyptian Mau flew up the inside with a ground-saving surge to nail Waralo and Chasing Liberty in a three-horse photo finish.
Antonio Fresu, riding the only female in the field of 10 grass sprinters, had her placed sixth early and chose to follow a stalking bid from Chasing Liberty, then dove inside to pass not only him but Waralo. The latter had taken command after pressing the pace for the opening half-mile in the 6-furlong turf race.
The Neil Drysdale-trained winner was clocked in 1:08.85 for the distance after splits of :23.19 and :$5.83 set by Jean Valjean, who would weaken to seventh. Egyptian Mau lit up the toteboard as the second-largest longshot in the field, paying $64.10 for the win. T
"When everything was opening, I took it and the filly was very game -- that was the main thing," Fresu said. "She was brave to go through there."
The victory was her first at the stakes level. She had been a group 3 winner earlier in her career in her native South Africa. The Team Valor International-owned mare is now 2-1-1 in seven starts in the United States and 4-2-2 in 15 career starts.
Waralo held second, a neck behind the winner and a head in front of third-place Chasing Liberty.
Egyptian Mau is a 6-year-old daughter of Fire Away out of the Fort Wood mare Savannah Cat.
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