Belmont Park: Air Support returning for Hill Prince

ELMONT, N.Y. - Air Support, who won the Grade 3 Pilgrim Stakes here last fall, returns to Belmont Park for Saturday’s Grade 3, $100,000 Hill Prince Stakes going one mile.

The Hill Prince, restricted to 3-year-olds, drew a field of nine.

The mile may be a little short for Air Support, who needed every inch of the Keeneland stretch to run down Great Mills in taking the Grade 3 Transylvania going 1 1/16 miles on April 8. He then finished a late-running third behind Banned and Close Ally in the Grade 2 American Turf on Derby Day at Churchill Downs.

“The winner was with him,” trainer Shug McGaughey said, “but I think the winner, Banned, is a nice horse.”

Alex Solis rides Air Support, the 123-pound highweight, from the rail.

The Hill Prince field includes Fastest Magician and Longhunter, the first- and second-place finishers from the A Gift, a seven-furlong overnight stakes run here on May 22. Chinglish, Humble and Hungry, and Master Dunker, the top three-finishers from the James Murphy Stakes at Pimlico on Preakness Day, are back in here as are the New York-breds Street Game and East of Danzig.