Bittel Road wins Big A's Monarch's Maze Stakes

Nov 20, 2009 - 9:41 PM NEW YORK(AP) -- Bittel Road beat Pitched Perfectly by one length Friday in the $70,700 Monarch's Maze Stakes for 3-year-olds at Aqueduct.

The race, originally scheduled for the turf, was shifted to the main track following heavy overnight rain. Bittel Road, running for the first time on dirt after nine races on either grass or synthetic tracks, made a smooth transition to the new surface for his fourth win in 10 starts.

In his first race since May 1, Bittel Road ran the one mile on the fast track in 1:36.80 with John Velazquez aboard. Trained by Todd Pletcher, Bittel Road paid $7.10, $4.60 and $2.70. Pitched Perfectly returned $9.80 and $4.30. Retriever paid $2.50 to show.