By Jill Williams
It's been nearly six months since Alex and JoAnn Lieblong's homebred Reef Runner (g, 5, The Big Beast–Paradise Bay, by Blame) has competed on these shores (a win in the Janus Stakes at Gulfstream in December), but he hasn't been idle. He brought a G2 1351 Turf Sprint win home from Saudi Arabia and barely missed the top three in the G1 Al Quoz Sprint in Dubai. On Saturday at Saratoga, he showed international competition made him razor sharp and ready for the GI Jaipur Stakes on Belmont Stakes Day. Reef Runner took the 5 1/2-furlong sprint by a half-length over defending winner Ag Bullet (Twirling Candy) and secured a fees-paid berth into this year's GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint at Keeneland.
Ag Bullet stutter-stepped out of the gate, but still fired, using her natural speed to lead the early charge. An eager John the Beer Man (More Than Ready)–who sported wins in both of his starts since a nearly two-year layoff–soon challenged for the front while Reef Runner sat a joint third. After sizzling through :21.19 and :43.13 splits, John the Beer Man had a length on Ag Bullet while Reef Runner clocked the top two. John the Beer Man spun off the turn in front in his first stakes try, but dead game and more experienced rivals in Ag Bullet and Reef Runner swamped him in late stretch, going by with aplomb as Reef Runner got the better of the gray mare by a half-length in a hand ride. John the Beer Man held for a close third, just a neck behind Ag Bullet. The rest of the field never factored.
Reef Runner's final time of 1:00.02 wasn't far off the :59.80 course record set by Cogburn (Not This Time) when he won the Jaipur in 2024.
“What do you say but, 'Wow.' He's just a really neat horse,” said winning trainer David Fawkes. “Anything you ask him to do, he does.”
Fawkes added: “We're going to point to the Breeders' Cup and hope for good weather, like this. We got so lucky. I've been sweating all week. I was watching the radar. It was spitting a little bit earlier, which was fine. I just didn't want it to be like Dubai.”
Heavy rain and electrical storms plagued Dubai the week of this year's Dubai World Cup celebration, when Reef Runner finished fourth in the aforementioned Al Quoz Sprint. His best performances have come on a firm course, including last fall's win in the GII Eddie D Stakes and a fourth–two spots behind Ag Bullet, who subsequently RNA'd at Fasig-Tipton November for $2.9 million—in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint. Reef Runner was gelded last summer and has proved a major player since.
Pedigree Notes:
Reef Runner is the top runner for his Arkansas-based sire, The Big Beast, who holds court at McDowell Farm. A son of Yes It's True, The Big Beast–who did his best running at Saratoga and won the 2014 GI King's Bishop Stakes–has 13 black-type winners to go with his sole graded winner.
Paradise Bay, dam of Reef Runner and a $350,000 purchase at the 2017 Keeneland September sale by the Lieblongs, is a half-sister to MGISW Paradise Woods (Union Rags) and hails from the same extended family as sires Vekoma and Mr. Greeley. A daughter of Claiborne's Blame, broodmare sire of 36 stakes winners, Paradise Bay has a yearling Omaha Beach filly and a Feb. 28-foaled colt by Life Is Good.
REEF RUNNER cruises by Ag Bullet to collect a career-first Grade I victory in the GI Jaipur Stakes at Saratoga! 🏆
T: David Fawkes
J: @iradortiz pic.twitter.com/TmYvbSbhYs— TDN (@theTDN) June 6, 2026
Saturday, Saratoga
JAIPUR S.-GI, $500,000, Saratoga, 6-6, 3yo/up, 5 1/2fT, 1:00.02, fm.
1–REEF RUNNER, 126, g, 5, by The Big Beast
1st Dam: Paradise Bay, by Blame
2nd Dam: Wild Forest, by Forest Wildcat
3rd Dam: Uforia, by Zilzal
1ST GRADE I WIN. O/B-Alex & JoAnn Lieblong (FL); T-David
Fawkes; J-Irad Ortiz, Jr. $275,000. Lifetime Record: GSW-Sau, 25-9-5-5,
$2,177,580. *Full to Big Paradise, SW, $163,905. Werk Nick
Rating: A. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Ag Bullet, 121, m, 6, Twirling Candy–Noble Grey, by Forestry.
($30,000 Wlg '20 KEENOV; $220,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP;
$2,900,000 RNA 5yo '25 FTKNOV). O-Calvin Nguyen and Joey
Tran; B-H & E Ranch (KY); T-Richard Baltas. $100,000.
3–John the Beer Man, 124, g, 5, More Than Ready–Trophy
Wife, by Giant's Causeway. 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED
BLACK TYPE, 1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. ($160,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP).
O-Michael J. Caruso and Michael Dubb; B-Phipps Stable (KY);
T-Rob Atras. $60,000.
Margins: HF, NK, 3/4. Odds: 5.24, 4.07, 5.97.
Also Ran: Twenty Six Black, My Boy Prince, Litigation, Bold Journey, Governor Sam, Works for Me, Clock Tower. Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
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