Minutes apart in Ohio, Neolithic gets 49th and 50th winners

At 3:36 p. m. on Wednesday, Iconic Rock broke from the gate in the seventh race at Belterra Park in Ohio, and a minute forty-three and a fraction later the 5-year-old Neolithic gelding had made the mile and 70-yard test his third career victory, and first of 2026. At nearby Thistledown, as Iconic Rock arrived back at his barn, the 3-year-old Neolithic filly Ravishing Ruby was breaking her maiden going 5 1/2 furlongs, and brought her sire to within three winners of his best season.

Eder Luis Martinez was aboard Iconic Rock, who is owned and trained by Eider Martinez. The gelding, a $15,000 OBS October yearling bred by Joan Angelina DiLibero, came from off the pace to score by 5 1/4 lengths, earning a personal best 74 Equibase speed figure and a check for $4,800. He raised his record to 3-6-3 in 39 starts and his bank account to $54,599. He paid $7 after racking up three seconds, two thirds and a fourth in his previous six tries.

Ravishing Ruby, bred by W. John Bourke, used a three-wide move under Luis Batista to win by a length in 1:07.96. She paid $3.20 and collected $10,200, lifting her total to $34,490 on a record of 1-2-3 in 14 starts. Neolithic now has 50 winners this year; his best was 53 in 2025.