Belmont: Mission Approved faces tough assignment in Mohawk

ELMONT, N.Y. – In the spring of 2011, Mission Approved – who had been claimed in the spring of 2010 for $35,000 – returned from an 11-month layoff to upset defending turf champion Gio Ponti in the Grade 1 Manhattan Handicap at Belmont Park.

Saturday, Mission Approved might be attempting something even more challenging. Now 9 years old, Mission Approved returns from a near-two-year layoff in the $200,000 Mohawk Stakes, one of seven stakes restricted to New York-breds on the 11-race Empire Showcase Day card at Belmont Park. While the Mohawk field does not contain a horse the stature of multiple Eclipse Award winner Gio Ponti, it does have several nice horses, topped by King Kreesa, who has the same front-running style that Mission Approved utilized to steal the 2011 Manhattan.

“I like running him long where if nobody wants the lead he’s out there comfortable,” said Naipaul Chatterpaul, the trainer and part-owner of Mission Approved. “Here, there is some speed. He will be challenged so we’ll see.”

Mission Approved began his career with Gary Contessa, who won a trio of stakes with the son of With Approval, including the Grade 3 Saranac at Saratoga in 2007 and the Grade 3 Singspiel at Woodbine in Woodbine in 2008. Physical ailments – he required three surgeries on the same joint – led Mission Approved to the claiming ranks, where he was taken from Contessa by Chatterpaul in June 2010 for $35,000.

Chatterpaul ran him back in the Grade 1 Man o’ War a month later and he came within a neck of upsetting Gio Ponti at odds of 53-1.
A foot issue sent him to the sidelines for the remainder of the year and he did not return until the Manhattan in June 2011, taking that 1 1/4-mile race gate to wire over yielding turf. After losses in three Grade 1 races to Cape Blanco, Mission Approved finished his 2011 campaign with a 14th-place finish in the Japan Cup.

Last spring, Mission Approved was working toward a return to the races when he injured a suspensory ligament in his left foreleg in a stall accident. Chatterpaul had stem-cell surgery performed on the ligament and sent the horse to the farm to recuperate.

Chatterpaul said Mission Approved returned to him in June and the horse shows six workouts at five furlongs or farther since Sept. 8.
“He’s doing great, holding up good,” Chatterpaul said. “He’s the same old horse.”

Mission Approved is drawn in post 4, while other potential speed horses such as King Kreesa, Fox Rules, and Kharafa are in posts 8, 9, and 10.

“My horse is not a rateable horse,” Chatterpaul said. “He’s dangerous when he’s on the pace and there’s nobody with him. Hopefully, everything will work out here.”

Esquivel gets off to good start

Emmanuel Esquivel, who was the leading rider at Arlington Park despite his status as an apprentice, made a quick first impression in New York, guiding Writingonthewall to a front-running victory in Monday’s second race. It his first ride over Belmont’s dirt track after finishing third on the turf in the previous race.

Esquivel said he was encouraged by horsemen and friends in Chicago – where he had ridden since February – to try New York.
“They said if I was going to pick up and go to a new place now was the right time,” Esquivel said Wednesday morning. “Those people over there are like family to me. I didn’t want to leave. But this was an opportunity to try something new.”

Esquivel said getting a win on his first day was “really important.”

“It opens a few more doors and you ride with a little more confidence,” he said.

Esquivel was named to ride three horses on Thursday and five on Friday, four of those for trainer David Jacobson, the leading trainer in wins on this circuit for the year.

Za Approval headed to BC Mile

Za Approval, winner of last Saturday’s Grade 3 Knickerbocker Stakes here, will run back in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Mile, owner Charlotte Weber confirmed Wednesday afternoon.

“We’re going to the Breeders’ Cup Mile,” Weber said. “I weighed all my options and that looked like a pretty good option. I’m competitive. Wise Dan is going to be in there but we’ve run against him before. We’re not afraid of him.

“We were invited to Hong Kong, but that’s further away and this seemed more reasonable,” Weber added. “You can’t win ‘em if you’re not in ‘em.”

Before winning the Knickerbocker, Za Approval finished second to Wise Dan – the defending BC Mile winner – in the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile. He also finished second to Obviously, another BC Mile contender, in the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile at Betfair Hollywood Park in June.

Za Approval is a half-brother to Miesque’s Approval, who won the 2006 Breeders’ Cup Mile for Weber’s Live Oak Plantation and trainer Marty Wolfson.

Za Approval, a 5-year-old gelding by Ghostzapper, is trained by Christophe Clement.