Sat Undercard
Jun 5, 2014 22:48:32 GMT -5
Post by Evelyn on Jun 5, 2014 22:48:32 GMT -5
Credit to the NYRA- Saturday is an outstanding day of racing at Belmont!
Woody Stephens
Social Inclusion, third in the Preakness and Wood Memorial, bypasses Saturday's third leg of the Triple Crown in favor of the Grade 2, $500,000 Woody Stephens over seven furlongs, which also attracted a field of 13.
"When we schooled him, he acted up behind the gate," owner Ron Sanchez said of the decision to enter the Woody Stephens rather than the Belmont. "It's not possible to run him in front of a large crowd. I want to run in the Belmont, but I was expecting the horse to settle down (when he schooled) at the gate. The Woody Stephens is seven furlongs and will start on the backstretch. No crowd there.
"His last breeze was amazing (three furlongs in a bullet :33 2/5 last Saturday), and he's cutting back (in distance)," Sanchez added. "The short distance should be better."
Bayern, disqualified from first in the Derby Trial and a nondescript ninth in the Preakness after early trouble, shortens up and adds blinkers, but will have be quick out of the gate from post 1. Others with early foot are the top three finishers from the six-furlong Gold Fever on May 4: Favorite Tale, Pure Sensation, and Havana. The latter is the most accomplished of the trio of having won the Champagne wire-to-wire last fall before finishing second in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile.
"I'm hoping he was a little rusty off the layoff," Pletcher said of Havana. "Unfortunately, we had some foot issues that held him up. We had to him scratch him from the Swale (in March). We had a valid excuse going into the Gold Fever. We've subsequently gotten three quality breezes out of him, and I hope that race and the consistent works move him forward."
Embellishing Bob, elevated to first on Bayern's disqualification at Churchill Downs, also has a bit of a early gas, but Coup de Grace appeared to benefit from an early bump which forced him to win the April 5 Bay Shore at Aqueduct from off the pace.
Trainer Chad Brown hopes that Coup de Grace will have learned his rating tactics.
"Hopefully we'll get a solid pace to run into," Brown said. "I'd like to see a similar pace to the Bay Shore. We were cutting back to one turn (in the Bay Shore) and teaching the horse to rate in the morning. I wasn't sure if it was going to pan out, but then he missed the break, anyway, which put him behind, which was a good thing -- it made him rate, and he did it effectively."
In a race loaded with contenders, others likely to attract interest are Meadowood, undefeated winner of the Chick Lang at Pimlico; Spot, upset winner of the Swale at Gulfstream three back; and the trio of Top Fortitude, Tonito M., and Kobe's Back, who finished, first, second, and fourth, respectively in the Lazaro Barrera Memorial at Santa Anita last time.
The stakes action on Belmont Stakes Day starts shortly after noon (EDT) with the $150,000 Easy Goer for three-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles. Federico Tesio and Private Terms winner Kid Cruz, who was eighth in the Preakness, was entered but might hold out instead for the Dwyer on July 5.
Legend, who chased graded stakes winners Vinceremos and Ring Weekend earlier this year, could be favored off a sharp maiden victory at Belmont on May 4. Others likely to attract support are the Todd Pletcher-trained allowance winners No Surrender and Misconnect, and ex-claimer Life in Shambles, who narrowly missed in the restricted Sir Barton at Pimlico on the Preakness undercard.
Ogden Phipps, Met Mile appealing Belmont Day appetizers
While California Chrome's bid for a Triple Crown in Saturday's Belmont Stakes is the main entree Belmont Park will offer during their 10-course stakes bonanza on Saturday, the side dish diehard racing fans are salivating for is the Grade 1, $1 million Ogden Phipps, which features a rematch among last year's leading three-year-old fillies: Beholder, Princess of Sylmar, and Close Hatches.
When the trio last met, with divisional honors on the line in last November's Breeders' Cup Distaff at Santa Anita, it was the hometown favorite Beholder who prevailed by an emphatic 4 1/4 lengths. Maintaining a perfect record around two turns at Santa Anita, Beholder clinched championship honors for the second consecutive year and adding to prior wins in the Zenyatta, Torrey Pines, Santa Anita Oaks, and Las Virgenes.
A facile 5 1/4-length winner of the $80,000 Santa Lucia at Santa Anita on April 20 in her season debut, Beholder was made the 7-5 favorite for the 1 1/16-mile Ogden Phipps. However, the race marks only her second trip outside the friendly confines of Southern California. In her last trip east of the Mississippi, Beholder finished a half-length behind Princess of Sylmar in the Kentucky Oaks.
"You've got the makings of a springtime Breeders' Cup with a day like this, and how great it is for the game," said trainer Richard Mandella, who worked Beholder an easy four furlongs in :49 2/5 on Monday at Belmont. "For New York to put this on is terrific."
The Kentucky Oaks was one of six stakes victories turned in by Princess of Sylmar last term. Following her win at Churchill Downs, Princess of Sylmar took down the Coaching Club American Oaks, Alabama, and Beldame, the latter against three-time champion Royal Delta. Having virtually locked up championship honors with that four-race win streak, her connections instead chose to put it all on the line in the Breeders' Cup, but left California empty-handed in more ways than one after trailing the field of six.
Princess of Sylmar also had little trouble in her return race, the $98,000 Cat Cay over one mile at Aqueduct on April 6. The Pennsylvania-bred won geared down by 3 1/2 lengths.
"This is a huge race," said Princess of Sylmar's trainer Todd Pletcher. "It's a Breeders' Cup quality field, and it's exciting. We're very respectful of how good Beholder is and Close Hatches. At the same time we're excited about the opportunity to get to run against them on a track where (Princess of Sylmar) has had success."
Close Hatches won the Gazelle, Mother Goose and Cotillion last season, plus finished second in the Breeders' Cup Distaff. She has finished ahead of Princess of Sylmar in two of their three meetings, but has never beaten Beholder to the finish line in two opportunities. She has been the most active of the Phipps triumvirate so far this year, taking both the Apple Blossom Handicap and Azeri at Oaklawn in wire-to-wire fashion.
The garnish, so to speak, of the Ogden Phipps field consists of Antipathy, Belle Gallantey, and Classic Point, none of whom have ever won a stakes. The latter came close last August, though, finishing a neck second in the Honorable Miss Handicap at Saratoga.
A new addition to the Belmont undercard this year is the former Memorial Day highlight, the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap. Boosted to $1.25 million, the historic one-mile contest has attracted a baker's dozen, including 2013 Belmont hero Palace Malice.
After a nail-biting score in the one-mile Gulfstream Park Handicap in early March, Palace Malice exerted his superiority in the nine-furlong New Orleans Handicap and the one-mile Westchester, a course-and-distance prep contested on May 11. However, the 8-5 morning line favorite drew post 1, which has trainer Todd Pletcher a little concerned.
"Yeah, it would have been my 13th choice in terms of post positions, but we're also conceding weight to everyone, but he's in phenomenal form right now, he's doing great, and hopefully he's good enough to overcome it," Pletcher said.
Palace Malice, the 124-pound high weight, is seeking to add his name to an illustrious list of horses who won both the Belmont and Met Mile. Gallant Man won the Belmont in the 1957 and the Met Mile in 1958, while Sword Dancer (1959), Arts and Letters (1969) and Conquistador Cielo (1982) used the Met Mile as their final prep before taking the 1 1/2-mile Belmont.
Normandy Invasion is still seeking his first career stakes win after finishing 4 3/4 length behind Palace Malice in the New Orleans at Fair Grounds most recently. The Chad Brown trainee has remained one of the more well-regarded members of his generation despite the stakes drought, having narrowly lost the Remsen at two and the Wood Memorial last season. He finished fourth in the Kentucky Derby prior to being sidelined with infirmities for the remainder of 2013.
The top four finishers from the May 3 Churchill Downs -- Central Banker, Shakin It Up, Clearly Now, and Broadway Empire -- will renew acquaintance on Saturday. The top three appeared to benefit from a hot pace, with Clearly Now perhaps the unluckiest after a troubled break and a wide trip.
The Churchill Downs was Central Banker's first graded stakes win, while Shakin It Up had previously won the Strub, Malibu, and San Vicente at Santa Anita. Clearly Now's prior stakes wins include an excellent score in the Bold Ruler Handicap at Belmont last October and the Swale at Gulfstream earlier last year.
"He ran a great race in the Churchill Downs, a career best, and he's coming into this race the right way," said trainer Al Stall Jr. of Central Banker. "If he can repeat his Churchill Downs performance or improve a little he'll definitely have a shot here."
Goldencents, who landed the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile and Santa Anita Derby last term, makes his season debut in an obviously difficult spot, but is much better than his troubled seventh in the November 30 Cigar Mile would indicate.
"He had a good series of works because there were no races for him," said Leandro Mora, assistant to Goldecents' trainer Doug O'Neill. "I believe he is good enough to compete with these guys, even though he has been away for quite a bit. He wasn't ready for the (San Carlos in March), and he is a fast horse, but we figure he is not a sprinter. He is a miler, and that's what his distance is."
Moreno, who won the Dwyer and finished second in the Travers and Pennsylvania Derby last year, could benefit from a cutback in trip after a third in the Charles Town Classic and fourth in the Pimlico Special. Romansh, a multiple Grade 3 winner at Aqueduct, has the speed to be in the frame. However, King's Bishop winner Capo Bastone and Westchester runner-up Declan's Warrior probably need career efforts to upset.
Victor Espinoza, the rider of California Chrome, will have a crucial mount early in the card when he guides the Argentinean import Ever Rider in the Grade 2, $500,000 Brooklyn over the same 1 1/2-mile trip as the Belmont Stakes.
Formerly part of New York's famed Handicap Triple Crown, along with the Metropolitan and Suburban, the Brooklyn this year was changed to an invitational with allowance weights.
Pulled up as the mild 9-2 favorite in the Breeders' Cup Marathon in his U.S. debut in November, Ever Rider seems to have finally acclimatized this spring, finishing second in the Tokyo City Cup at Santa Anita and in the Drosselmeyer, a local 10-furlong prep on May 4.
Also in the lineup are Ground Transport, who led wire-to-wire in the Drosselmeyer and won by a head; Micromanage, the Drosselmeyer third who previously won the Skip Away at Gulfstream; Cat Burglar, third in the Pimlico Special in his stakes debut; and Golden Soul, unplaced six times since his second-place effort in last year's Kentucky Derby.
"He's training really good," trainer Dallas Stewart said of Golden Soul. "We kind of picked the race because it is a mile and a half. He has the pedigree and he's got great stamina, so we thought we'd give it a shot. There's some nice horses in there, but we think he can stay the distance."
Golden Soul has been a frequent training partner with stablemate Commanding Curve, who is among 10 contenders attempting to deny Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner California Chrome in the Grade 1, $1.5 million Belmont Stakes.
"He loves his job. He loves to go out and train. He just loves to get out there and go," Stewart said. "He's competitive. He loves to work. He's worked a lot with Commanding Curve. He's still got that competitive streak in him; we've just got to get him in the right spot at the right distance. We're hoping that the distance will maybe get us a win with him."
Pletcher identified the distance as the reason why Micromanage is trying the Brooklyn.
"We've kind of been looking at this race for a while and looking to get him stretched out to a mile and a half," Pletcher said. "He's closely related to Editor's Note (the 1996 Belmont winner), and we've always felt like the mile and a half should suit him well.
"He's always been kind of mature and well-developed, physically. We put the blinkers on in the Skip Away, and he seemed to respond well with a big race. In the Drosselmeyer, he kept grinding it out, so the mile and a half should help him."
Brisnet
Woody Stephens
Social Inclusion, third in the Preakness and Wood Memorial, bypasses Saturday's third leg of the Triple Crown in favor of the Grade 2, $500,000 Woody Stephens over seven furlongs, which also attracted a field of 13.
"When we schooled him, he acted up behind the gate," owner Ron Sanchez said of the decision to enter the Woody Stephens rather than the Belmont. "It's not possible to run him in front of a large crowd. I want to run in the Belmont, but I was expecting the horse to settle down (when he schooled) at the gate. The Woody Stephens is seven furlongs and will start on the backstretch. No crowd there.
"His last breeze was amazing (three furlongs in a bullet :33 2/5 last Saturday), and he's cutting back (in distance)," Sanchez added. "The short distance should be better."
Bayern, disqualified from first in the Derby Trial and a nondescript ninth in the Preakness after early trouble, shortens up and adds blinkers, but will have be quick out of the gate from post 1. Others with early foot are the top three finishers from the six-furlong Gold Fever on May 4: Favorite Tale, Pure Sensation, and Havana. The latter is the most accomplished of the trio of having won the Champagne wire-to-wire last fall before finishing second in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile.
"I'm hoping he was a little rusty off the layoff," Pletcher said of Havana. "Unfortunately, we had some foot issues that held him up. We had to him scratch him from the Swale (in March). We had a valid excuse going into the Gold Fever. We've subsequently gotten three quality breezes out of him, and I hope that race and the consistent works move him forward."
Embellishing Bob, elevated to first on Bayern's disqualification at Churchill Downs, also has a bit of a early gas, but Coup de Grace appeared to benefit from an early bump which forced him to win the April 5 Bay Shore at Aqueduct from off the pace.
Trainer Chad Brown hopes that Coup de Grace will have learned his rating tactics.
"Hopefully we'll get a solid pace to run into," Brown said. "I'd like to see a similar pace to the Bay Shore. We were cutting back to one turn (in the Bay Shore) and teaching the horse to rate in the morning. I wasn't sure if it was going to pan out, but then he missed the break, anyway, which put him behind, which was a good thing -- it made him rate, and he did it effectively."
In a race loaded with contenders, others likely to attract interest are Meadowood, undefeated winner of the Chick Lang at Pimlico; Spot, upset winner of the Swale at Gulfstream three back; and the trio of Top Fortitude, Tonito M., and Kobe's Back, who finished, first, second, and fourth, respectively in the Lazaro Barrera Memorial at Santa Anita last time.
The stakes action on Belmont Stakes Day starts shortly after noon (EDT) with the $150,000 Easy Goer for three-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles. Federico Tesio and Private Terms winner Kid Cruz, who was eighth in the Preakness, was entered but might hold out instead for the Dwyer on July 5.
Legend, who chased graded stakes winners Vinceremos and Ring Weekend earlier this year, could be favored off a sharp maiden victory at Belmont on May 4. Others likely to attract support are the Todd Pletcher-trained allowance winners No Surrender and Misconnect, and ex-claimer Life in Shambles, who narrowly missed in the restricted Sir Barton at Pimlico on the Preakness undercard.
Ogden Phipps, Met Mile appealing Belmont Day appetizers
While California Chrome's bid for a Triple Crown in Saturday's Belmont Stakes is the main entree Belmont Park will offer during their 10-course stakes bonanza on Saturday, the side dish diehard racing fans are salivating for is the Grade 1, $1 million Ogden Phipps, which features a rematch among last year's leading three-year-old fillies: Beholder, Princess of Sylmar, and Close Hatches.
When the trio last met, with divisional honors on the line in last November's Breeders' Cup Distaff at Santa Anita, it was the hometown favorite Beholder who prevailed by an emphatic 4 1/4 lengths. Maintaining a perfect record around two turns at Santa Anita, Beholder clinched championship honors for the second consecutive year and adding to prior wins in the Zenyatta, Torrey Pines, Santa Anita Oaks, and Las Virgenes.
A facile 5 1/4-length winner of the $80,000 Santa Lucia at Santa Anita on April 20 in her season debut, Beholder was made the 7-5 favorite for the 1 1/16-mile Ogden Phipps. However, the race marks only her second trip outside the friendly confines of Southern California. In her last trip east of the Mississippi, Beholder finished a half-length behind Princess of Sylmar in the Kentucky Oaks.
"You've got the makings of a springtime Breeders' Cup with a day like this, and how great it is for the game," said trainer Richard Mandella, who worked Beholder an easy four furlongs in :49 2/5 on Monday at Belmont. "For New York to put this on is terrific."
The Kentucky Oaks was one of six stakes victories turned in by Princess of Sylmar last term. Following her win at Churchill Downs, Princess of Sylmar took down the Coaching Club American Oaks, Alabama, and Beldame, the latter against three-time champion Royal Delta. Having virtually locked up championship honors with that four-race win streak, her connections instead chose to put it all on the line in the Breeders' Cup, but left California empty-handed in more ways than one after trailing the field of six.
Princess of Sylmar also had little trouble in her return race, the $98,000 Cat Cay over one mile at Aqueduct on April 6. The Pennsylvania-bred won geared down by 3 1/2 lengths.
"This is a huge race," said Princess of Sylmar's trainer Todd Pletcher. "It's a Breeders' Cup quality field, and it's exciting. We're very respectful of how good Beholder is and Close Hatches. At the same time we're excited about the opportunity to get to run against them on a track where (Princess of Sylmar) has had success."
Close Hatches won the Gazelle, Mother Goose and Cotillion last season, plus finished second in the Breeders' Cup Distaff. She has finished ahead of Princess of Sylmar in two of their three meetings, but has never beaten Beholder to the finish line in two opportunities. She has been the most active of the Phipps triumvirate so far this year, taking both the Apple Blossom Handicap and Azeri at Oaklawn in wire-to-wire fashion.
The garnish, so to speak, of the Ogden Phipps field consists of Antipathy, Belle Gallantey, and Classic Point, none of whom have ever won a stakes. The latter came close last August, though, finishing a neck second in the Honorable Miss Handicap at Saratoga.
A new addition to the Belmont undercard this year is the former Memorial Day highlight, the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap. Boosted to $1.25 million, the historic one-mile contest has attracted a baker's dozen, including 2013 Belmont hero Palace Malice.
After a nail-biting score in the one-mile Gulfstream Park Handicap in early March, Palace Malice exerted his superiority in the nine-furlong New Orleans Handicap and the one-mile Westchester, a course-and-distance prep contested on May 11. However, the 8-5 morning line favorite drew post 1, which has trainer Todd Pletcher a little concerned.
"Yeah, it would have been my 13th choice in terms of post positions, but we're also conceding weight to everyone, but he's in phenomenal form right now, he's doing great, and hopefully he's good enough to overcome it," Pletcher said.
Palace Malice, the 124-pound high weight, is seeking to add his name to an illustrious list of horses who won both the Belmont and Met Mile. Gallant Man won the Belmont in the 1957 and the Met Mile in 1958, while Sword Dancer (1959), Arts and Letters (1969) and Conquistador Cielo (1982) used the Met Mile as their final prep before taking the 1 1/2-mile Belmont.
Normandy Invasion is still seeking his first career stakes win after finishing 4 3/4 length behind Palace Malice in the New Orleans at Fair Grounds most recently. The Chad Brown trainee has remained one of the more well-regarded members of his generation despite the stakes drought, having narrowly lost the Remsen at two and the Wood Memorial last season. He finished fourth in the Kentucky Derby prior to being sidelined with infirmities for the remainder of 2013.
The top four finishers from the May 3 Churchill Downs -- Central Banker, Shakin It Up, Clearly Now, and Broadway Empire -- will renew acquaintance on Saturday. The top three appeared to benefit from a hot pace, with Clearly Now perhaps the unluckiest after a troubled break and a wide trip.
The Churchill Downs was Central Banker's first graded stakes win, while Shakin It Up had previously won the Strub, Malibu, and San Vicente at Santa Anita. Clearly Now's prior stakes wins include an excellent score in the Bold Ruler Handicap at Belmont last October and the Swale at Gulfstream earlier last year.
"He ran a great race in the Churchill Downs, a career best, and he's coming into this race the right way," said trainer Al Stall Jr. of Central Banker. "If he can repeat his Churchill Downs performance or improve a little he'll definitely have a shot here."
Goldencents, who landed the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile and Santa Anita Derby last term, makes his season debut in an obviously difficult spot, but is much better than his troubled seventh in the November 30 Cigar Mile would indicate.
"He had a good series of works because there were no races for him," said Leandro Mora, assistant to Goldecents' trainer Doug O'Neill. "I believe he is good enough to compete with these guys, even though he has been away for quite a bit. He wasn't ready for the (San Carlos in March), and he is a fast horse, but we figure he is not a sprinter. He is a miler, and that's what his distance is."
Moreno, who won the Dwyer and finished second in the Travers and Pennsylvania Derby last year, could benefit from a cutback in trip after a third in the Charles Town Classic and fourth in the Pimlico Special. Romansh, a multiple Grade 3 winner at Aqueduct, has the speed to be in the frame. However, King's Bishop winner Capo Bastone and Westchester runner-up Declan's Warrior probably need career efforts to upset.
Victor Espinoza, the rider of California Chrome, will have a crucial mount early in the card when he guides the Argentinean import Ever Rider in the Grade 2, $500,000 Brooklyn over the same 1 1/2-mile trip as the Belmont Stakes.
Formerly part of New York's famed Handicap Triple Crown, along with the Metropolitan and Suburban, the Brooklyn this year was changed to an invitational with allowance weights.
Pulled up as the mild 9-2 favorite in the Breeders' Cup Marathon in his U.S. debut in November, Ever Rider seems to have finally acclimatized this spring, finishing second in the Tokyo City Cup at Santa Anita and in the Drosselmeyer, a local 10-furlong prep on May 4.
Also in the lineup are Ground Transport, who led wire-to-wire in the Drosselmeyer and won by a head; Micromanage, the Drosselmeyer third who previously won the Skip Away at Gulfstream; Cat Burglar, third in the Pimlico Special in his stakes debut; and Golden Soul, unplaced six times since his second-place effort in last year's Kentucky Derby.
"He's training really good," trainer Dallas Stewart said of Golden Soul. "We kind of picked the race because it is a mile and a half. He has the pedigree and he's got great stamina, so we thought we'd give it a shot. There's some nice horses in there, but we think he can stay the distance."
Golden Soul has been a frequent training partner with stablemate Commanding Curve, who is among 10 contenders attempting to deny Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner California Chrome in the Grade 1, $1.5 million Belmont Stakes.
"He loves his job. He loves to go out and train. He just loves to get out there and go," Stewart said. "He's competitive. He loves to work. He's worked a lot with Commanding Curve. He's still got that competitive streak in him; we've just got to get him in the right spot at the right distance. We're hoping that the distance will maybe get us a win with him."
Pletcher identified the distance as the reason why Micromanage is trying the Brooklyn.
"We've kind of been looking at this race for a while and looking to get him stretched out to a mile and a half," Pletcher said. "He's closely related to Editor's Note (the 1996 Belmont winner), and we've always felt like the mile and a half should suit him well.
"He's always been kind of mature and well-developed, physically. We put the blinkers on in the Skip Away, and he seemed to respond well with a big race. In the Drosselmeyer, he kept grinding it out, so the mile and a half should help him."
Brisnet
