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Divine Park strolls clear in Withers James J. Barry's DIVINE PARK (Chester House) took command after the opening half-mile and powered home an impressive 3 1/4-length winner of the $150,000 Withers S. (G3) at Aqueduct on Saturday. Piloted by Alan Garcia, the three-year-old showed good speed on the rail early and overtook early pacesetter Street Magician (Street Cry [Ire]) following four furlongs in :45 2/5. The lead stretched to a half-length by six furlongs in 1:09 3/5, and the Kentucky-bred completed the one-mile fast track event in 1:34 3/5 to remain unbeaten from three career starts. The Kiaran McLaughlin-trained Divine Park was sent off as the near 3-1 second choice and returned $7.70, $3.70 and $3.50. C P West (Came Home) was next to last after four panels but rallied well to earn the place, paying $3.30 and $2.80 as the 9-5 favorite. The exacta was worth $22. Frosty Secret (Put It Back) rallied along the rail to garner third at 21-1, paying $6.40 and rounding out the $138 trifecta (1-2-3) in the process. Mint Slewlep (Slew City Slew) was another half-length back and was trailed by Street Magician, Our Sacred Honor (Honour and Glory) and Brisco N Logan (Officer). Divine Park boosted his bankroll to $149,475 while earning his first stakes score. The bay was bred by Runnymede Farm Inc. and Catesby Clay, and fetched a bid of $20,000 at the 2005 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. He is out of the winning High in the Park (Ascot Knight), and has an unraced two-year-old half-sister named Doris' Diamond (Monarchos), as well as an unnamed yearling half-sister by Five Star Day. Assistant trainer Artie Magnuson indicated that Divine Park could be pointed toward either the $200,000 Peter Pan S. (G2) on May 20 at Belmont Park or the $1 million Preakness S. (G1) on May 19 at Pimlico.
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