Glorious Boy was confirmed the sole winner of Friday’s $100,000 Pulpit Stakes after stewards at Gulfstream Park reversed an initial dead-heat with Bronze Bullet, ruling that the favorite caused interference inside the final strides of the mile-and-70-yard feature on Tapeta.
Before the pair hit the wire together, Glorious Boy — racing for Centurion Thoroughbreds Club and trained by Carlos Martin — had been involved in late contact with Bronze Bullet. The stewards’ review determined the 2-1 favorite was responsible for the bump and placed him second.
“I objected because there was some contact that I felt impeded my horse,” jockey Rajiv Maragh said. “In the moment, it was so close I wasn’t sure if I won, so I made sure I claimed foul.”
The race unfolded with Shipmate setting the early fractions of 23.40 and 47.57 seconds, pressed by A Million Dreams and Behold the King. Bronze Bullet, settling kindly in fourth under Emisael Jaramillo, circled four wide on the turn and struck the front entering the stretch. Glorious Boy, shifting inside for his run, closed strongly but was put in tight quarters as Bronze Bullet drifted before coming back toward the rail.
Trainer Carlos Martin admitted he was unsure how the decision would fall. “I wasn’t sure about the DQ because it seemed like there was some incidental contact both ways,” he said. “But when we watched it again, our horse’s hind end kind of went out from underneath him, maybe just enough. A tie is great, but it’s better to have the win.”
Three Diamonds Farm’s Bronze Bullet had made both prior starts on Tapeta, winning on debut at five furlongs before finishing second in a 5½-furlong allowance. “It was a tough call,” trainer Jose D’Angelo said. “I think he was tired. They are babies going two turns for the first time.” Glorious Boy entered the Pulpit off a runner-up finish in the six-furlong Awad Stakes at Aqueduct, having broken his maiden in his third start. Martin said the colt continues to progress with experience and distance.
“He’s a nice horse,” Martin said. “Anytime you stretch them out, you wonder if they’ll stay. But he relaxed, he settled, and now you can go turf and Tapeta. I was thinking of giving him a break, but maybe now I’ll rethink it.”
Glorious Boy and Bronze Bullet completed the mile and 70 yards in 1:40.74. “This horse ran a really great race today,” Maragh said. “We were expecting a top performance, and he either hit the point or exceeded the expectations.” The win also moved Maragh within two victories of his 2,000-career milestone. “I’m chipping away, and I have some really good mounts this weekend,” he said. A Million Dreams finished third, 3½ lengths behind the pair at the line.
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