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Lucky Island lands Tom Fool Shadwell Stable's LUCKY ISLAND (Arg) (Lucky Roberto) broke on top in Saturday's $161,000 Tom Fool H. (G2) and never relinquished the advantage en route to a 4 1/4-length score in the prestigious seven-furlong sprint at Belmont Park. Now four for four since the addition of Lasix earlier this year, the Kiaran McLaughlin-trained colt faced early pressure from Tasteyville (With Approval) while setting splits of :22 4/5 and :45 1/5 over the muddy track, but he shook loose from that rival at the top of the stretch and went on to notch his second consecutive graded victory. The four-year-old finished up in 1:22 3/5 with Alan Garcia. "You know, he broke so sharp, that was the key," McLaughlin said. "(Garcia) always had a lot of horse. He's a very, very, very nice horse. We are so happy with him." Sent off the 3-2 second choice in the five-horse field, Lucky Island paid $5, $2.80 and $2.20 while keying the $10 exacta. Tasteyville, the 6-5 favorite, held the place by a length and gave back $2.50 and $2.10. Premium Wine (Prime Timber) was worth $2.20 for the show and completed the $18.20 trifecta (2-5-6). He was followed under the wire by Starforaday (Five Star Day) and Council Member (Seattle Slew). Not for Money (Not for Love) was scratched. Bred in Argentina by Arroyo de Luna, Lucky Island is out of the Equalize mare Ebrolize. He won his career debut by nine lengths at San Isidro last June before being transferred to McLaughlin. The dark bay colt suffered his only defeat when seventh in an allowance/optional claimer at Calder last December, but returned to capture an allowance at Gulfstream Park in mid-February and defeated allowance/optional claiming rivals at Aqueduct in early April. He made his graded debut in the May 10 Bold Ruler H. (G3), recording a 2 1/4-length decision. He's earned $224,942 from his 6-5-0-0 line. McLaughlin said the Forego H. (G1) at Saratoga on August 30 is Lucky Island's next objective.
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