Baffle Me back on favorite lawn in Intercontinental Stakes

ELMONT, N.Y. – Back on her favorite surface and cutting back to her preferred distance, Baffle Me looks to return to her winning ways in Sunday’s $100,000 Intercontinental Stakes on turf at Belmont Park.

Dark the day after the Belmont Stakes since 2007, Belmont Park will be open for a nine-race Sunday card beginning at 1:20 p.m.

Baffle Me, a 5-year-old daughter of First Samurai trained by Mark Hennig, is 3 for 4 over the Belmont turf, with two of those wins coming in stakes last fall at the same seven-furlong distance as the Intercontinental. Baffle Me ended her 4-year-old season with a half-length victory in the South Beach Stakes going 7 1/2 furlongs Dec. 15 at Gulfstream.

According to Hennig, the early winter was a little rough for Baffle Me, who fought foot issues at Palm Meadows.

“In Florida, I backed off on her by design after she won, then she started having some foot issues and ended up getting more time than we wanted,” Hennig said.

Baffle Me returned from a four-month layoff in the Powder Break Stakes at Gulfstream Park going 1 1/16 miles and finishing seventh, beaten 5 1/4 lengths as the 9-5 favorite.

“I think she just needed a race,” Hennig said. “I was trying to get a race in her before we left there. She got a little tired.”

Irad Ortiz Jr. will ride Baffle Me from post 2.

Trainer Todd Pletcher, who had 17 horses to run on Saturday’s card, has two entrants in this race – Alaura Michele and Zia Zia Zia. Alaura Michele comes off a fourth-place finish, beaten a length, in the Ten Palms Stakes going a mile Feb. 23 at Gulfstream.

“We didn’t really have much of an excuse,” Pletcher said. “The freshening and the distance should suit her fine.”

Zia Zia Zia won a second-level allowance race at Santa Anita in January going 6 1/2 furlongs down the hill. Zia Zia Zia was purchased privately and sent to Pletcher, who ran her on dirt in the Grade 2 Inside Information Stakes, in which she finished sixth of seven.

“It appears her form is a bit better on the turf,” Pletcher said. “She didn’t break well for us and got dirt in her face. That all went the wrong way, so hopefully back on the grass, she can get away cleanly.”

Pletcher will put blinkers on Zia Zia Zia for this race. Rajiv Maragh rides from post 7.

Free as a Bird won the License Fee Stakes going six furlongs here May 11 and has followed that up with two bullet workouts over the dirt at Saratoga. She finished third behind Baffle Me in the Jazzy Stakes here last September but seems to have learned how to settle better since that time.

Byrama, the Grade 1 Vanity Stakes winner last year; Assateague, the winner of the De La Rose Stakes at Saratoga last summer; and Vuitton, a sprint stakes winner on dirt with two turf wins on her résumé, are among the other contenders in this 11-horse field.