When Saturday’s $500,000 Jockey Club Derby Inv. at Aqueduct came off the turf following all-day rains, Lost Ark had no problem with the sloppy main track as the Eddie Woods Sales grad scored his first stakes win in the 1 ¼-mile contest for 3-year-olds.

The race scratched down to five entrants from the original nine following the surface switch. Lost Ark, wearing blinkers for the first time, tracked stablemate Fearless Soldier for six furlongs before engaging him midway on the final turn. The duo were side-by-side until Lost Ark put his foe away. Yet another Todd Pletcher runner, Classic Catch, closed late, but was three-quarters of a length in arrears at the finish.

“They put blinkers on him and I thought he should have been forward,” said winning jockey Kendrick Carmouche of the winner. “I was sitting in a perfect spot the whole way around there. It was going to be whoever quickened at the end, and none of them quickened. We just galloped around there. I’m glad it came off the turf. I thought I had a decent shot on the grass, but I had an even bigger shot on the dirt.”

Lost Ark races for Harrell Ventures, LLC and was bred in Kentucky by Ashview Farm and Colts Neck Stables. He is now 4-0-1 in eight starts and has earned $538,600. Lost Ark is a half-brother to both champion Nest and Grade 1 winner Idol.