Clement opts to try maiden Broadcast in Laurel Futurity
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If the weather had held up at Belmont Park last weekend, it is likely that the juvenile colt Broadcast would have waited to make his stakes debut. But instead of trying the new synthetic surface in New York, trainer Miguel Clement decided to scratch and ship to Maryland for the $125,000 Laurel Futurity Stakes on Saturday.
“In hindsight, if I had known the Tapeta was as good as it was, I would have run him over it, and that’s the truth,” Clement said. “Otherwise, he’s training very well. The conservative option was that we should scratch him [at Belmont], and then we went for an ambitious option, which is to run him in a stakes.”
In Broadcast’s 1 1/16-mile debut at Saratoga last month, Clement said the Into Mischief colt ran a winning race while swinging wide to get into contention. He finished fourth by three-quarters of a length with a 68 Beyer Speed Figure.
Clement entered him in a maiden special weight at Belmont on Sunday, but it was taken off the turf, becoming the first race to be run on the new synthetic course. The trainer did not want to test his juvenile on a brand new surface and was willing to ship for a chance in stakes company.
The Jorge Delgado-trained colt Perfect Dream is the only one stepping down in class in the field of eight juveniles. After a maiden win in August, the juvenile stuck around for a three-horse edition of the Grade 3 With Anticipation at Saratoga, finishing third by 4 1/2 lengths.
“There was no shame in that loss, and we feel like this might be class relief for him,” Delgado said.
Fullcup, a New York-bred making his turf debut for trainer Riley Mott, went off as the 8-5 favorite in the $200,000 Funny Cide on Sept. 7 at Saratoga and finished third by 4 1/4 lengths in the six-furlong dirt sprint. Mott said the 1 1/16-mile Laurel Futurity was a worthwhile distance and surface test.
Selima Stakes
Trainer Keri Brion seems to be holding a strong pair of juvenile fillies in $125,000 Selima Stakes on Saturday at Laurel. The last-out maiden winners Sea Isle City and Millford Lass will both stretch out to 1 1/16 miles with obvious winning intentions in their stakes debuts.
When Brion shipped to Kentucky Downs with Sea Isle City earlier this month, she said she was afraid the precocious filly might not come back with her. But instead of a trainer change, Three Diamonds Farm will send the filly right back to Maryland after a 1 1/4-length score in a restricted maiden special weight.
“It’s been fun to have a filly of this level in the barn,” Brion said. “We love her. We always thought stretching out would be her thing, but she ran so well sprinting in [two starts at] Saratoga, going five and a half. Then we went six and a half at Kentucky Downs and she did that really well.”
Millford Lass was sacrificed in a sense in her second start last month, as Brion considered her the likeliest to win a sprint of her many route-inclined juvenile fillies. She closed with confidence to win a 5 1/2-furlong sprint by a head at Colonial Downs.
“She’s supposed to go two turns,” Brion said. “I literally ran her in the [5 1/2-furlong] race because I thought she could just get it done, and I had so many 2-year-old fillies for the same condition. I thought she could do it, which she did, but she is bred to go three turns, really.”
Trainer Brittany Russell also has a pair of last-out maiden winners entered in the field of 10 juvenile fillies. Dance to Glory won her debut at a mile in gate-to-wire fashion at Colonial in July, while Hidden Overture pulled clear by 13 3/4 lengths in a mile race taken off the turf on Sept. 3 at Delaware.
All Along
Grayosh, a graded stakes winner trained by Chad Brown, will ship to Laurel with a decisive class edge in the $100,000 All Along Stakes on Saturday.
After a pair of Grade 3 attempts at Monmouth earlier in the summer, including a one-length victory in the Matchmaker on Haskell Day, the 5-year-old mare shipped to Saratoga for the Grade 2 Ballston Spa in August. In a race that largely came down to trip luck, she finished fourth by a length with a career-best 93 Beyer.
Grayosh’s breakthrough in the Matchmaker came at 1 1/8 miles, a distance she will try again in the All Along at Laurel. She is the likely favorite in the field of eight fillies and mares.
Trainer Amelia Green said Storm Miami, the runner-up in the Grade 3 Waya at Saratoga last month, will stay home for the Grade 2 Flower Bowl on Saturday at Belmont. She will instead proceed with Shore War, who will return to Laurel for the first time since a four-length allowance score in June.
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