Clement sends out strong contingent on Thursday
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Christophe Clement won three races on Saturday’s card at Belmont Park and it’s not far-fetched to think he can do something similar on Thursday as racing resumes following three dark days.
Clement has runners in five of the nine races on Thursday, including starters in the co-featured allowance races, scheduled for the turf.
In the opener, Clement drops the 4-year-old colt So Suave into a $35,000 claiming race after the horse ran fifth in a first-level allowance at Saratoga in July. So Suave is cutting back to six furlongs from a mile.
“I would have preferred to run him seven-eighths, but because he’s so anxious and nervous I thought it was okay to run him six,” Clement said.
So Suave could get set up for a late run with the speedy U.S. Steel and Big Wonder in the field.
In race 4, a maiden special weight race for New York-bred fillies and mares scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on turf, Tingling Mint will make her second start. In her debut she finished a late-running third in a similar race on Sept. 1 at Saratoga.
“She has improved from her first race,” Clement said.
Clement is hopeful that Caumsett and Lady Thornhill, who dueled in a Sept. 19 maiden race here, duke it out again up front. The horse to beat could be Out of Sight, who was third in that race for trainer David Donk.
In race 5, a second-level allowance for New York-breds scheduled for seven furlongs on turf, Clement sends out the uncoupled pair of Straw Into Gold and Swashbuckle. Straw Into Gold is coming out of a last-place finish in the Better Talk Now Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 29. Swashbuckle finished seventh in the Allied Forces going six furlongs.
“They’re both complicated mentally, but they both have talent and they’re healthy,” Clement said. “Swashbuckle, we’ve been running him six furlongs. Seven-eighths is a distance to try and stretch him a bit. The other horse is probably more of a miler, but I don’t want to wait another four weeks to run him, so why not?”
In the featured eighth, a first-level allowance race for fillies and mares going a mile on turf, Clement sends out Messidor, a 3-year-old Irish-bred filly who was beaten a neck in this same condition at Belmont on Sept 16. Clement felt Messidor and Joel Rosario dropped too far back off a slow pace that day.
“It was my fault,” Clement said. “I told Rosario to get her covered up, get nice and settled, and finish, which he did. Unfortunately, he had her settled quite a long way from the pace. They didn’t go as fast expected. I got it wrong. The way she ran was nice. She settled, finished well, looked good, came back and she’s trained well. There’s a lot more speed this time.”
The card ends with a maiden $40,000 claimer for New York-breds, and Clement sends out I Gen, who finished sixth at this level in an off-the-turf race on Sept. 2.
“He’s better on turf than dirt,” Clement said.
Giramonte, second three times at this level, and Majestic Tiger could be the ones to beat in this six-furlong race.