Brown trio hard to separate in Wild Applause

ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Chad Brown will be expected to win Saturday’s $100,000 Wild Applause Stakes at Belmont Park. It’s figuring out which one of his trio of runners will get the job done in the one-mile turf stakes for 3-year-old fillies that is the hard part.

Blowout, Nova Sol, and Seek and Destroy all have credentials to win the Wild Applause, which drew a field of only six and is likely to go with five as Wings of Dawn is expected to scratch to run in the Grade 2 Mother Goose here on June 29, according to trainer Mark Casse.

Blowout and Nova Sol each has won only a maiden race, but the duo have combined for three second-place finishes in stakes this year. Blowout, a Great Britain-bred daughter of Dansili, finished second to Concrete Rose in the Grade 3 Florida Oaks at Tampa Bay Downs. Concrete Rose came back to beat Newspaperofrecord in the Edgewood Stakes. Blowout came back to finish second to Feel Glorious in the Memories of Silver Stakes at Aqueduct in April, a race in which Blowout stumbled down the backside then had to wait for running room in the stretch. She was outfinished by Feel Glorious, who is back in this field.

“She got a rough trip in there, maybe clipped heels down the backside. It was not a good trip for her,” Brown said. “Hopefully, she gets a clean trip this time. We think a lot of her.”

Blowout will break from the outside post under Javier Castellano.

Nova Sol, a German-bred daughter of Soldier Hollow, finished second to stablemate Dogtag in the Hilltop Stakes at Pimlico on May 17. That was Nova Sol’s first start in the U.S. and first in nearly seven months.

“She didn’t break that well. She was standing in the gate for a long time. She made a nice run,” Brown said. “I was very encouraged by her first start. I think she’ll improve.”

Irad Ortiz Jr. rides Nova Sol from post 4.

Seek and Destroy beat Feel Glorious by a length in the Grade 3 Soaring Softly Stakes. Seek and Destroy had a clear outside trip while Feel Glorious was bottled up on the inside. Brown said his biggest concern with Seek and Destroy is he believes she prefers firmer ground than is likely to be the case on Saturday.

Trainer Christophe Clement has replaced Eric Cancel with Joel Rosario on Feel Glorious, hoping for a better trip in the Wild Applause than she had in the Soaring Softly.

“A mile should be perfect for her. Rosario should be the perfect fit and he can do whatever he wants with her. She’s versatile,” Clement said.

Pep, who cuts back to mile after finishing third in a first-level allowance at 1 1/8 miles, completes the field.