Roca Rojo rocks Belmont Park feature in US debut

NEW YORK (AP) Roca Rojo stretched her undefeated streak to three with a rousing victory in her U.S. debut, the $80,000 allowance feature for fillies and mares on the turf Thursday at Belmont Park.

Pinched back to last at the start, the 4-year-old angled seven-wide turning for home and surged to a 2 1/4-length victory over Fair Point.

Roca Rojo won both starts in her native Ireland in May 2015.

She was then transferred to trainer Chad Brown who gave her generous time to acclimate.

The wait paid off as the 8/5 favorite ran the seven furlongs in a swift 1:19.91.

John Velazquez was aboard as Roca Rojo paid $5.20, $3.40 and $2.40.

Fair Point, who closed to take a narrow lead in the stretch, returned $3.10 and $2.30 as the 5-2 second choice. Lady Kressa paid $2.90 to show.