Calder: Black Diamond Cat looks to fire fresh in Kenny Noe Jr. Handicap

MIAMI – Black Diamond Cat was conspicuous in his absence from last Sunday’s Sunshine State Stakes at Gulfstream Park. But the vastly improved gelding will be front and center and the one to beat when he returns from a 90-day freshening in Saturday’s $75,000 Kenny Noe Jr. Handicap at Calder.

Black Diamond Cat has won three of his last four starts, including a 1 3/4-length victory at Calder in the Ponche Handicap on June 8, with his only setback during that span coming in the Grade 2 Smile Sprint Handicap. The 6-year-old Black Diamond Cat is coming off a pair of impressive stakes victories this summer at Gulfstream, where he captured the seven-furlong Housebuster and the one-mile Montbrook before being given a rest by trainer Larry Bates.

“He put four dynamite races together and needed a break after the Montbrook,” Bates said. “I thought about the Sunshine State, but I didn’t want to bring him back with that field. They were really flying over there on Sunday. This race should set up a little better for him, and I always go by the theory that you should always keep yourself in the best company and your horses in the worst.”

Somewhat unexpectedly, Black Diamond Cat will face two of the six horses who did compete in the Sunshine State, with Close It Out and Fort Loudon coming back in just six days if they start in the 6 1/2-furlong Kenny Noe. The pair finished fourth and fifth last Sunday at Gulfstream, neither posing a serious threat to Star Harbour, who led throughout to win the seven-furlong Sunshine State for statebreds.

The Kenny Noe lured a field of 10 that includes a pair of fillies: trainer Marty Wolfson’s speedy Heart Stealer and longshot This Is She. Heart Stealer is coming off a second-place finish at Calder in the Bold World Handicap. She is cross-entered in Saturday’s Grade 3 Sugar Swirl Stakes for fillies and mares at Gulfstream and is expected to scratch from the Kenny Noe.

Wolfson still will have a serious contender if Heart Stealer defects, with Simmstown among the likely favorites coming off an easy 3 3/4-length victory over Mordi’s Miracle going a mile at Gulfstream. Simmstown tuned up for the assignment with a sharp 47.20-second half-mile work Monday at Gulfstream.

City of Weston returns to his roots for the first time since finishing a distant sixth this summer in the Grade 3 Carry Back. City of Weston appears to have tailed off since upsetting Parx’s Grade 3 Gallant Bob at 30-1 on Sept. 21.

Calder mainstays Rockyshomerun, Stat, and Imperial Czar complete the field.