Belmont Park notes: Lukas confident in Strong Mandate ahead of Champagne Stakes

ELMONT, N.Y. – “Absolutely ecstatic.”

That’s how trainer D. Wayne Lukas said he was feeling Wednesday after Strong Mandate visited Belmont’s main track for the first time in preparation for Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Champagne Stakes.

Strong Mandate, the 9 3/4-length winner of the Grade 1 Hopeful at Saratoga on Sept. 2, arrived at Belmont from Churchill on Tuesday. On Wednesday, he drew post 7 in a field of nine entered for the Champagne, a one-turn, one-mile race that offers a fees-paid berth to the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita on Nov. 2.

Strong Mandate has made all three of his starts at Saratoga, where he won his maiden over a fast track in his second start and the Hopeful over a sloppy surface. On Wednesday, Strong Mandate had a strong gallop over Belmont’s main track, after which Lukas said he won’t have the track to use as an excuse if he loses.

“His gallop this morning was really nice over this deep track,” Lukas said. “I sure as hell am not looking for an excuse Saturday. It’s a new surface – every horse is going to try a new surface. If you get beat, you look for some excuse. If you win, you say you don’t care.”

Strong Mandate, who will be ridden by Jose Ortiz, will take on a field that includes sharp Saratoga debut winners Honor Code and Havana as well as the multiple stakes winner Debt Ceiling.

Lukas chose to run Strong Mandate in the Champagne as opposed to last weekend’s Grade 1 FrontRunner at Santa Anita because he liked having the extra week from the Hopeful, which was the horse’s third race in six weeks.

“I thought the timing was better on this one, although after watching that one, that would have been the place to be,” Lukas said, referring to the fact that the maiden Bond Holder won a modest running of the FrontRunner.

Lukas is a two-time winner of the Champagne, having won it with Grand Slam and Timber Country. The quartet of Lukas and colleagues Todd Pletcher, Nick Zito, and Shug McGaughey – who also have horses in this field – has combined to win 14 of the last 27 runnings of this race.

Honor Code, an impressive debut winner going seven furlongs at Saratoga on Aug. 31, drew post 5 and will be ridden by Javier Castellano. Havana, who owns the highest Beyer Speed Figure (102) of any juvenile this year, drew post 3 and will be ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr.

Others entered include Casiguapo, the Hopeful runner-up; Debt Ceiling, who has won three stakes, including the Grade 3 Bashford Manor; Ride On Curlin; Long On Value; and Grand Arrival. Intense Holiday was entered in the Champagne and Saturday’s Grade 1 Dixiana Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland, with a decision about which race to run in coming Thursday.

Stopchargingmaria eyes BC race

Last year, owner Mike Repole staged a mini-boycott of the Breeders’ Cup, keeping several eligible contenders out of the series because he disagreed with a rule that prohibited 2-year-olds from running on Lasix.

While he still disagrees with that policy, which again will be in place at this year’s Breeders’ Cup, Repole said he will consider sending Stopchargingmaria to the $2 million Juvenile Fillies if she wins Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Frizette Stakes for 2-year-old fillies. The Frizette offers a fees-paid berth to the Juvenile Filllies.

“Depending what she does in the Frizette, I’m definitely considering running in the Breeders’ Cup,” Repole said. “No disrespect to the other fillies, but I really feel Sweet Reason is the best filly right now, but she’ll have to prove it on a dry track.”

Stopchargingmaria, who won her debut by 5 1/2 lengths on fast ground at Saratoga on July 19, finished second to Sweet Reason in the Spinaway, run over a sloppy track.

Repole said he still disagrees with the decision by Breeders’ Cup officials to ban Lasix from races restricted to juveniles, but he said, “You learn to accept some of the things that are wrong with the sport.”

Repole said he believes the ban on Lasix had a negative impact on last year’s Breeders’ Cup, as evidenced by some small fields in the juvenile races and the fact that this year the Breeders’ Cup eliminated the Juvenile Sprint. Also, the Breeders’ Cup backed away from banning Lasix on all races as it had originally intended.

“The Breeders’ Cup knows that if they kept that [no Lasix] stance for older horses, it could possibly be the end of the Breeders’ Cup,” Repole said. “You’ll never see older horses not be able to run on Lasix in the Breeders’ Cup.”

In addition to having to beat Sweet Reason, Stopchargingmaria will face good-looking maiden winners Artemis Agrotera, Recepta, and Tea Time. Divided Attention and Ria Antonia complete the field.

A Kitten and a Cat top Jamaica field

Admiral Kitten, winner of the Grade 1 Secretariat Stakes at Arlington, and Notacatbutallama, a multiple graded stakes-winning New York-bred, top a field of 13 entered in Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Jamaica Stakes for 3-year-olds on turf.

Admiral Kitten, who had finished second in four consecutive races before the Secretariat, will be cutting back to 1 1/8 miles in the Jamaica. Admiral Kitten will break from post 4. Admiral Kitten, who comes from off the pace, will be coupled in the wagering with the likely pacesetter Get in Line.

Notacatbutallama, who drew post 13, had won three consecutive races, including the off-the-turf Hall of Fame Stakes at Saratoga, before finishing second to Five Iron in the Grade 3 Saranac, also at the Spa. Notacatbutallama is 3 for 4 at Belmont, with a second-place finish in last year’s Grade 3 Pilgrim Stakes, run over a yielding turf course.

War Dancer, the Grade 2 Virginia Derby winner; Stormy Len, the Secretariat runner-up; Balance the Books, a multiple graded stakes winner at 2; and Canadian shippers Up With the Birds and Five Iron also are part of the contentious field.

No decision yet on Cluster of Stars

The connections of the undefeated New York-bred filly Cluster of Stars have not ruled out supplementing her to the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.

Cluster of Stars, who won the Grade 2 Gallant Bloom Handicap on Sept. 21 to make her 5 for 5, returned to the work tab Monday, going an easy half-mile in 52.80 seconds over Belmont’s main track.

“We’re doing everything that we normally do,” said Toby Sheets, assistant to trainer Steve Asmussen. “We’re not going to change a whole lot.”

Sheets didn’t anticipate a decision from owner Harvey Weinstein regarding the Breeders’ Cup for a couple of weeks.