Blacktype a horse on the rise
ELMONT, N.Y. – It has the purse of a stakes race and a field full of stakes horses. All that Wednesday’s feature at Belmont Park is lacking is a name.
The final week of the Belmont spring-summer meet kicks off with a $102,000, fourth-level allowance race scheduled for 1 1/16 miles over the inner turf course. The field includes graded stakes winners Mr Speaker and Enterprising, but the horse to beat might be Blacktype, one of two runners trained by Christophe Clement.
Blacktype has won two of three starts this year – both since being gelded and since being equipped with blinkers. In rallying from last to win a third-level allowance race here June 10, Blacktype was simply hand-ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr., so the 1 1/4-length margin of victory looks a little less impressive than the actual performance.
With Ortiz serving a suspension through Thursday, Junior Alvarado takes the call on Blacktype.
“He’s more focused with the blinkers and has a great turn of foot,” Clement said Monday. “I expect him to run a great race.”
Clement also sends out Chamois, who attempts to bounce back off a last-place finish in the Grade 2 Dixie at Pimlico on May 16. Clement said Chamois was too anxious after breaking from the outside post, and he faded after pressing the pace.
“The outside post and the blinkers were a bad combination,” Clement said. “He came back very well, and we’re taking the blinkers off.”
Rounding out the field for turf are Sky Blazer, who is eligible to be claimed for $100,000, Unbridled Ocean, and Mutin. Lucky Lotto, Turco Bravo, and Farhaan could run if the race is transferred to dirt.
KEY CONTENDERS
Blacktype (Last 3 Beyers: 90-86-92)
◗ Steadily improving gelding comes off a visually impressive effort in an allowance race over this course and distance June 10, rallying wide while overcoming a slow pace.
◗ Iron Power, a Clement trainee who was the 3-2 favorite in the June 10 race, came back to win his third-level allowance condition July 2 with a 94 Beyer Speed Figure.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 9 Blacktype. Trainer Christophe Clement is 29-2-6-9 with a $1.54 ROI over the past two years in turf routes on the NYRA circuit with a jockey switch following a win. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
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Mr Speaker (Last 3 Beyers: 94-96-81)
◗ A three-time graded stakes winner, he is seeking his first victory since winning the Grade 1 Belmont Derby a year ago. He is winless in two starts this year, having finished fourth to Grand Arch in allowance and seventh behind Big Blue Kitten in the Grade 3 Fort Marcy on May 2.
“His two races so far this year he hasn’t finished, so win, lose, or draw, I just want to see him come running,” trainer Shug McGaughey said. “A mile and a sixteenth over this turf course is probably not his bag, but with what he’s in against, if he runs his race, he should be pretty competitive.”
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 8 Mr Speaker. Trainer Shug McGaughey is 35-11-6-2 with a $3.74 ROI over the past two years in turf routes following a layoff of between 60 and 90 days. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
- additional reporting by Mike Welsch