American St. Leger has wide-open feel

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – A quick scan of the American St. Leger field suggests that The Pizza Man is the horse to beat, but that’s almost certainly wrong.

The defending champion and morning-line favorite, The Pizza Man will be scratched in favor of the Arlington Million, according to his connections, leaving a nearly indecipherable mix of 10 older horses to contest the Grade 3, $350,000 American St. Leger, the first of four straight International Festival of Racing events on a terrific Saturday card at Arlington Park.

Hyper, a Ken and Sarah Ramsey homebred in from New York, could fill the favorite’s role in the American St. Leger, which is run around three turns at the oddball distance of 1 11/16 miles on turf. Although winless in nearly two years, the 8-year-old has faced superior company this year and comes from the high-profile stable of Chad Brown.

Still, there will be support aplenty for others in a widely disparate group, including Lucky Speed from Germany (by way of Canada), Crucero from Southern California, Panama Hat from Ireland, Az Ridge from Minnesota, and this trio of regionally based veterans who ran a respective 2-3-4 behind The Pizza Man in the Grade 3 Stars and Stripes here last month: Roman Approval, Calvados, and Xtra Luck.

Xtra Luck, the winner of the Grade 3 Louisville Handicap two starts back, “gives a good 100 percent every time,” said trainer Neil Howard. “Obviously, this is a very deep race, and we’ll need the right kind of trip to win. These are funny races, these marathons, but if it gets to be a galloping contest, that’s something he likes. That’s kind of how he won the Louisville, so we’ll see how it shakes out.”

Crucero, a 23-1 winner of the Grade 3 San Juan Capistrano at Santa Anita last out, “has to prove he’s got the class to run with these,” said trainer Keith Desormeaux. “He’s earned his shot, though.”

Wayne Catalano, an 11-time leading trainer at Arlington, is represented here by the uncoupled duo of Alpha Kitalpha and Highball, who drew alongside each other in the far-outside posts.

First run on Million Day 2013, the St. Leger is modeled after the English St. Leger, which dates to 1776. A true St. Leger is a mile and six furlongs, but because of the configuration of the one-mile Arlington course, this St. Leger is run at a mile and 5 1/2 furlongs. This is the first year the race has been graded.

The St. Leger (post 3:42 p.m. Central) kicks off an all-graded-stakes pick four wager (races 7-10) that ends with the Million and offers a $150,000 pool guarantee.

Pucker Up Stakes (race 6)

True to the wide-open theme, the Grade 3 Pucker Up Stakes also has no standout among a field of 11 3-year-old fillies. Miss Chatelaine ships in from New York for Christophe Clement with the highest Beyer Speed Figure (89) in the field, but there are another half-dozen or so viable options in the turf race at about 1 1/8 miles.

Miss Chatelaine was 54-1 when no factor in her last start, the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks, but clearly it’s the class drop that helps to make her worthy of consideration in the $100,000 Pucker Up. She and Joe Bravo will have to work out a good trip from post 10.

Two of her top challengers, Giant Deduction and Prado’s Sweet Ride, come from the high-percentage barn of Chris Block, a two-time Pucker Up winner. In fact, Prado’s Sweet Ride not only is the only four-time winner in this lineup but the only graded stakes winner, having captured the Grade 3 Regret on the Churchill Downs turf in her last start.

Other players include America Mon Amie, Mizz Money, and Walking the Kitten, the respective 1-2-4 finishers in a key clash at Canterbury Park in June; Return to Grace, third in the Regret for the ubiquitous Mark Casse stable; and Ahh Chocolate, making her grass debut for Neil Howard after exiting the Indiana Oaks and Black-Eyed Susan.

Unbridled Courage, pegged at 30-1 on the morning line, stretches out from much shorter races and can be expected to push the pace from her inside post.

The Pucker Up, named for the standout Chicago-based racemare of the mid-1950s, has been an Arlington fixture since 1961, but this is the first time it has been held on Million Day. It replaces the Hatoof, which had been a staple of the Million undercard but was eliminated this year with the shrinking of the Arlington stakes schedule.

Bruce D. Memorial (race 4)

Perfect in three starts on the Arlington Polytrack and favorably drawn in the outside post, Recount figures as a solid favorite for trainer Jimmy DiVito in the inaugural running of this $50,000, one-mile race on the main track.

Private Prospect, returning to the Polytrack for Mike Campbell after being overmatched in graded stakes on dirt, looks like the main threat in a field of eight 3-year-olds.

The Bruce D. Memorial is named for Bruce Duchossois, one of four children of Arlington chairman Richard Duchossois. Bruce Duchossois, a noted equestrian, died in July 2014 at age 64.