Belmont turf course suits Man o' War favorite Yibir
ELMONT, N.Y. – When it comes to Yibir, trainer Charlie Appleby believes course configuration more than course condition is key to the gelding’s success.
“The European tracks surprisingly don’t suit him,” Appleby said. “He’s better on those more flat, conventional tracks, i.e., when he won at York in the Great Voltigeur. That’s a nice, flat galloping track, same at Belmont and same at Meydan really.”
Saturday, Yibir returns to the nice, flat galloping course at Belmont Park where he heads a field of six entered in the Grade 1, $700,000 Man o’ War Stakes going 1 3/8 miles over the inner turf course.
The Man o’ War goes as race 8 on an 11-race card that begins at 1 p.m. Eastern and includes four Grade 3 stakes – the $200,000 Peter Pan for 3-year-olds, the $150,000 Beaugay for females on turf, the $150,000 Runhappy for sprinters on dirt, and the $150,000 Vagrancy Handicap for female sprinters on dirt.
It was last summer over Belmont’s outer turf course that Yibir caught people’s attention with a quick burst of speed that carried him from last approaching the quarter pole to first at the eighth pole en route to a 2 1/2-length victory in the $1 million Jockey Club Derby Invitational for 3-year-olds. He followed that up with another late-running victory in the $4 million Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar.
In two starts this year, Yibir finished second in the Group 1 Dubai Sheema Classic, where he had to rally 10 wide in the lane only to fall a neck shy of Japan’s Shahryar. Then, Yibir was beaten 1 3/4 lengths at 1-5 odds in the Group 2 Jockey Club Stakes at Newmarket, where he may have been compromised by a pedestrian pace.
“The Sheema Classic, he lost nothing in defeat there,” Appleby said. “His style of running is as a bit of a holdup horse, so you’re always going to have to ride for a bit of luck and, unfortunately, they went no gallop, and with a big field there were plenty of horses in contention turning for home and he had to circumnavigate around them. Therefore, it cost him a lot of ground. He’s a big closer and he didn’t quite get there, but he ran very creditable for the first start for a 4-year-old career.”
Speaking of his effort in the Jockey Club at Newmarket, Appleby said: “Front-runners, if you get your fractions right, it’s hard to pick them up. I wasn’t displeased with the effort at Newmarket on a track that he’d gotten beat on as a 2-year-old. He’s not built for undulations, as you see.”
Yibir arrived in New York on Sunday, and on Thursday he open galloped through the stretch of the turf course under exercise rider Shane Fetherstonhaugh.
“Shane was very happy the way he went,” said Chris Connett, assistant to Appleby who is here with the horse. “All systems go for Saturday. I’d say he’s grown and filled out from 3 to 4. This trip, he looks better and better each day.”
Yibir will break from post 3 under William Buick.
Gufo was beaten a nose by Channel Cat in last year’s Man o’ War when coming off a layoff. This year, Gufo enters the Man o’ War having won the Grade 2 Pan American on April 2 at Gulfstream. He ran with blinkers off in that race following disappointing efforts with blinkers last fall in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic and Breeders’ Cup Turf.
“I was thinking about it all winter long,” trainer Christophe Clement said of his decision to remove blinkers. “His last two races – the Joe Hirsch and the Breeders’ Cup Turf – I didn’t think the horse ran as well as he should have run. I thought he ran a very good race at Gulfstream. He’s trained well since. Of course, it’s going to be a tough race – it’s a Grade 1 in New York – but at least we have a prep race.”
Both Yibir and Gufo should benefit if the speedy Abaan and So High compromise each other. Abaan, trained by Todd Pletcher, won the two-mile H. Allen Jerkens and the Grade 3 William McKnight from a forward position. So High set the pace and held second in a first-level allowance on April 15 at Aqueduct. He was beaten two lengths when sent off at 90-1 in last year’s Man o’ War.
Trainer Graham Motion has entered both Easter and Highland Chief in this race. Both horses will be making their second start in the United States after breaking slowly in their U.S. debut. Highland Chief placed twice in Group 2 stakes in Great Britain last year.
Motion said Highland Chief has been a little keen in the mornings and he would anticipate him being more forward with a cleaner start.
The rain chance that seemed near certain earlier in the week has decreased to just a chance of a stray shower or thunderstorm on Saturday.