Affirmed Success Stakes likely to come down to Ny Traffic, Bank On Shea

ELMONT, N.Y. – Ny Traffic and Bank On Shea have combined to go 3 for 3 in their visits to Belmont Park, with Ny Traffic winning two races and Bank On Shea winning one.

Friday, one of the two is likely to add to his record of success here when they head a five-horse field entered in the $100,000 Affirmed Success, the first of 59 stakes to be run during the 44-day Belmont Park meet. The Affirmed Success, named after the three-time Grade 1-winning Kentucky-bred, is a six-furlong race restricted to New York-breds.

Ny Traffic, who ran in both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness in 2020, beat New York-breds in a second-level allowance here last May 2 and, after three unsuccessful graded stakes tries, romped to a 9 3/4-length victory in the Hudson Handicap on New York Showcase Day here last Oct. 30.

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In his lone start this year, Ny Traffic finished fifth, 10 1/2 lengths behind Speaker’s Corner in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Mile.

“Tough race to come back in off a layoff, but we had to get him started,” trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said Wednesday. “Speaker’s Corner is a really good horse. I didn’t think it was a bad comeback race.”

Joseph said the race “brought him along the right way.”

Confirming Joseph’s observation, Ny Traffic put in several solid works at Gulfstream Park before shipping up here.

“We’re really happy the way he’s coming into this one,” Joseph said. “We expect a big run.”

Ny Traffic, 5, has raced six furlongs twice, both as a 2-year-old and before Joseph took over his training. The Hudson was run at 6 1/2 furlongs. On Friday, Ny Traffic breaks from the rail under Jose Ortiz and is the 124 pound co-highweight.

“The draw is a little tricky,” Joseph said. “He needs to work out a trip from there.”

Bank On Shea won the 2021 Affirmed Success in front-running fashion last April. He was in the barn of Tyler Servis then. Bank On Shea didn’t run again until January when he was in the barn of Carlos David.

Bank on Shea went 1 for 3 for David, including a neck victory over Baby Yoda in the Pelican Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs in February. The second- through fourth-place finishers from that race came back to win their next start.

Bank On Shea came out of the Pelican to run in the Grade 1 Carter on April 9, and after contesting the early pace, he finished sixth, 11 1/4 lengths behind Speaker’s Corner. David left the horse in New York with trainer Ray Handal.

“It wasn’t like he was just a passenger and got beat 11 lengths, he was in contention and running,” Handal said. “He’s been a really straightforward horse, ate everything and trained the way you’d want a horse to train.”

Dylan Davis will ride Bank On Shea from post 4.

Lobsta, a two-time stakes winner during the winter at Aqueduct, figures to be part of the pace along with Reggae Music Man, who has won two straight and is trained by Pat Reynolds. Hold the Salsa completes the field.

With only a five-horse field, the Affirmed Success goes as race 3 on a nine-race card that begins at 1:20 p.m.