Break will be key for Diversify in Charles Town Classic

As the most accomplished member of the Charles Town Classic field, Diversify is a deserving favorite. But this is no easy assignment for the Rick Violette trainee, who will be making his first start in five months and faces pace pressure from the rock-solid Laurel Park shipper Afleet Willy.

The Grade 2, $1.2 million Classic is the annual highlight of the Charles Town season and its only day card. First post is 12:30 p.m. Eastern with the Classic set to go as race 11 at 5:36 p.m.

The three-turn, 1 1/8-mile Classic will air on Fox Sports 2 as part of the New York Racing Association’s Saturday At The Races broadcast. The complete Charles Town card will stream live on DRF.com.

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The Classic headlines a 13-race program and will be supported by eight undercard stakes. The $100,000 Dance to Bristol and the Classic will be part of a cross-country pick four with races 8 and 9 from Aqueduct.

Diversify won his first four career starts as a 3-year-old in 2016 and is 7 for 11 overall. He took his game to a new level last summer, winning the New York-bred Evan Shipman Stakes at Saratoga by 11 1/2 lengths and followed up that race with a one-length victory in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup.

He finished fourth in his 4-year-old finale, the Grade 1 Clark at Churchill Downs, and came out of the race “a little jammed up,” according to Violette.

“We gave him an extended vacation and he’s shown he runs well fresh,” Violette said. “He’s doing great, but there is another speed in here, so the break will be critical.”

Diversify and Afleet Willy drew the outside posts in the seven-horse field, and it is hard to predict how their chess match up front will play out.

“My horse is fast,” Violette said, “but if need be, he’s capable of pointing at another horse.”

Irad Ortiz Jr. rides Diversify. Afleet Willy will be ridden by Laurel-based Jomar Torres, who is 4 for 5 on him.

Afleet Willy is the best horse Claudio Gonzalez has ever had. The winningest trainer in Maryland last year, Gonzalez claimed him as a 2-year-old for $25,000 out of a 2015 Laurel maiden win and he has steadily improved. He is 12 for 27.

Since returning from a five-month layoff in August, Afleet Willy is 5 for 7, with his wins coming around two turns and his losses around one.

Afleet Willy won the John B. Campbell at Laurel in February. Gonzalez skipped the March 17 Harrison Johnson Memorial, in which Afleet Willy would have been favored, to have him at his best for the Classic.

“He is doing so good now,” Gonzalez said. “He is happy and really sharp.”

Something Awesome is in the best form of his career since being transferred to the Laurel barn of Jose Corrales and being switched from Tapeta at Woodbine to dirt. Owned and bred by the Stronach family, longtime clients of Corrales, the 7-year-old is 4 for 5 in Maryland, including a neck victory in the Grade 3 General George.

He successfully stretched out to 1 1/8 miles in the Johnson Memorial, breaking the race open with a strong move on the far turn. He has the tactical speed to track the Classic pace.

“He’s easy to handle and has the speed to get close during a race,” Corrales said of the son of Awesome Again. “And he’s bred to get the distance.”

War Story just missed in this race over a sloppy track a year ago for trainer Jorge Navarro, finishing third by two necks to Imperative and Matt King Coal. He prepped for the Classic with an easy win in the $100,000 Challenger at Tampa Bay Downs.

“He came out of the race really good,” Navarro said. “I’ve just been trying to keep him happy. I’ve breezed him three times but haven’t really done very much with him. He’s ready.”

The field is completed by the hard-knocking runners Fear the Cowboy and Discreet Lover, and You’re to Blame, who finished third to War Story in the Challenger for Todd Pletcher.

Fear the Cowboy won the Grade 3 Harlan’s Holiday at Gulfstream Park in December and has since finished fourth in the Pegasus World Cup and third in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap for trainer Efren Loza Jr.

Discreet Lover wheels back on short rest for Parx-based Uriah St. Lewis after winning the Grade 3 Excelsior at Aqueduct two weeks ago.