2021 Brooklyn Stakes Winner
Lone Rock was a tough and remarkable marathon specialist who turned a modest claiming career into a millionaire's resume on the dirt distance scene. He was foaled in 2015 and bred in Kentucky by Town & Country Horse Farms and Pollock Farms. His sire was Majestic Warrior, a son of A.P. Indy, and his dam was Ruby Lips, a daughter of Hard Spun. He was a smart, durable gelding who showed up race after race for years.
Lone Rock raced from 2017 through 2023, a long career that took him through claiming and stakes barns alike. The big turning point came when trainer Robertino Diodoro claimed him for 40,000 dollars at Saratoga in July 2020. He lost the gelding briefly to another trainer at Keeneland that October, then claimed him back at Churchill Downs in November 2020. From that point on, Lone Rock stayed in the Diodoro barn and turned into one of the most consistent horses in the country at marathon distances.
His big year was 2021. He picked up a string of wins in long distance stakes, including the Birdstone Stakes, the Isaac Murphy Marathon Handicap, and the Tinsel Stakes. The Grade 2 wins came in the Brooklyn Stakes at Belmont Park and the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Stakes at Saratoga, both at unusual long distances of more than a mile and a half. He kept rolling in 2022 with another Isaac Murphy Marathon win and the Temperence Hill Stakes, beating top stayers in the country.
Lone Rock retired in 2023 with a record of 16 wins, 6 seconds, and 3 thirds from 45 starts, with earnings of 1,446,291 dollars. The numbers speak for themselves, but the heart he showed in race after race meant just as much. Lone Rock is remembered as one of the great marathon specialists of his era, a hardworking gelding who proved that a 40,000 dollar claim can write a million dollar story.
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