Brown trio looks formidable in Hill Prince
ELMONT, N.Y. – If you throw money at them, they will come, and 3-year-old grass horses have come out of the woodwork for Saturday’s rich Hill Prince Stakes.
The Hill Prince formerly was run at the spring meet, but it was repositioned to the fall last year and given a purse hike from $150,000 to its present $500,000, making it among the most lucrative Grade 3 races in the land. Not surprisingly, a baker’s dozen signed up for the 1 1/8-mile Hill Prince, which is scheduled for the inner turf course as race 9 on an 11-race “Super Saturday” card. Post time is 4:53 p.m. Eastern.
With the potential for rain and high winds Friday and into early Saturday as Hurricane Joaquin approaches the Northeast, Good Luck Gus was entered for the main track only.
As with just about every turf stakes on the circuit these days, Chad Brown’s influence looms large as the trainer sends out the triumvirate of Money Multiplier, Takeover Target, and Winter Springs. Money Multiplier was a maiden winner on the main track at the spring meet before switching to turf for close runner-up finishes in the Grade 3 Kent and Grade 3 Saranac.
“This horse has really improved all year, particularly since we got him on the grass in his last two starts,” said Brown.
Takeover Target won the Grade 2 Hall of Fame Stakes over several of his Hill Prince opponents but came up empty when off the board in the Saranac as the 8-5 favorite. Brown could find no apparent excuse for the no-show performance, and it’s worth noting that the colt won his debut on yielding turf here last fall.
The French import Winter Springs was off the board in the Hall of Fame and Saranac stakes to begin his U.S. career with a thud.
“He’s trained far better than he’s run,” said Brown, who theorized that Winter Springs simply might have disliked Saratoga. “If he catches a little give in the ground, it could benefit him, I believe.”
The only graded stakes winner in the field other than Takeover Target is World Approval, a versatile colt who rallied from last to nip Money Multiplier with a hedge-hugging trip in the Saranac to go along with a pace-pressing win in the Grade 3 American Derby two starts earlier.
“Good horses win when they have to make changes to get it done,” said trainer Mark Casse, who said he hopes World Approval gets some pace to run at Saturday.
The pace should be honest enough, given the presence of Jay Gatsby and Nonna’s Boy. Jay Gatsby, a two-time winner on all-weather tracks in France, made his U.S. debut off a five-month layoff two weeks ago and battled up front in a 1 1/4-mile allowance against older horses to finish a sharp second. He is a half-brother to three stakes winners, including the sought-after stallion War Front and two-time Jaipur Stakes winner Ecclesiastic.
Nonna’s Boy, who wired the Lamplighter Stakes at Monmouth Park before leading to the stretch of the Saranac, drew unfavorably in post 12.
Good Luck Gus is a three-time stakes winner against New York-breds, including the rich New York Breeders’ Futurity on a wet track at 2. He becomes a formidable presence if the Hill Prince is rained off the turf.