Prevent wins latest battle of the handicaps

In one of the strange twists of racing, two sons of Neolithic, Private Thoughts and Prevent, have faced each other in five straight overnight handicaps s at Gulfstream Park dating back to Oct. 4, the first two with purses of $70,000, and the last three worth $100,000 each. In the five, Private Thoughts has knocked out two victories, two seconds and a third; Prevent has two posted victories and three off the board.

In the latest on Saturday, the 5-year-old Prevent rebounded from one of his off-the-board efforts and went wire -to-wire in the mile and 70-yars test over the Tapeta course under Hall of Famer John Velazquez. They lulled the field to sleep with a :24.79 first quarter and continued on in front to a neck victory over 3-1- favorite Horsepower in 1:37.67. Bred by Katia Perez Ozuna, Prevent, a $15,000 OBS Winter yearling, earned a check for $60,000, boosting his career total to $469,177 on a record of 8-5-1 in 28 starts.

Private Thoughts, a 5-year-old gelding bred by Joe and Helen Barbazon, had won the last handicap on Dec. 27 but didn’t fire this time at odds of 3-1, finishing third for attorney David Romanik and trainer Ron Spatz, 2 1/2 lengths back. He earned $9,000 and now has a bank account of $368,474 on a record of 8-4-3 in 19 tries.