Defiant Honor a late addition to Sands Point field

ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Jimmy Toner has eschewed the conservative approach he was going to take with Defiant Honor and has decided to run her in Saturday’s Grade 2, $400,000 Sands Point Stakes, the first graded event of the Belmont Park fall meet.

Defiant Honor won the $100,000 Riskaverse Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 24. Afterward, Toner said he would likely wait for a race like the Pebbles on Nov. 14, a non-graded $200,000 stakes at one mile. The Sands Point is at 1 1/8 miles.

However, with no standout in the Sands Point, a lucrative purse, and his filly doing well, Toner decided to give Defiant Honor a shot.

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“She came out of it really well,” Toner said. “I breezed her a little half-mile on Sunday nice and comfortable. She’s doing well. It’s a little bit of a quick turnaround, but the time before [the Riskaverse] was a non-effort, and I brought her back and got a decent effort into her. You either do this or wait another month and go in the Pebbles.”

Because he made a late decision to enter the Sands Point, Toner lost rider Jose Lezcano to La Coronel. Toner has tabbed Nik Juarez, Monmouth Park’s leading rider who is trying to make it in New York, to ride Defiant Honor.

Defiant Honor will be facing a trio of runners from the Chad Brown stable – Fifty Five, Inflexibility and Uni – as well as Chastise, Empressof the Nile, Fault, La Coronel, and the European import Vue Fantastique.

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