Deterministic tries to end season on a high note in Hill Prince

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Deterministic began his season at Aqueduct winning the Grade 3 Gotham Stakes, a one-mile dirt race that briefly put the 3-year-old on the Triple Crown trail. Deterministic will end his 3-year-old campaign in Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Hill Prince, a 1 1/8-mile turf race that his connections hope sets Deterministic up for a big 2025 turf campaign.

Deterministic has already proven himself on turf, winning the Grade 3 Virginia Derby and placing in three other stakes, twice behind his stablemate Carson’s Run, who is headed to the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby on Nov. 30 at Del Mar.

Trainer Christophe Clement had the option of running Deterministic in the Grade 2, $250,000 Twilight Derby on Oct. 26 at Santa Anita, but opted to stay home.

“I did not want to go to California and give him a tough race and ship him all across the country,” Clement said. “I thought this was a nice race. It’s in New York, he’s been running well at Aqueduct. He’s run there twice and finished second there twice. Joel [Rosario] knows the horse well. I’m excited to see him run.”

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Deterministic, a son of Liam’s Map, has run from a mile to 1 3/8 miles on turf, his lone win coming at 1 1/8 miles.

“The mile and an eighth seems to be working okay,” Clement said.

“He’s finishing all the way from the eighth pole to the wire, he was not stopping, he was finishing, so he will stay. But I do like the mile and an eighth.” Clement said, discussing the Jockey Club Derby at 1 3/8 miles.

Cugino, from his winning debut at Aqueduct last Nov. 11 through a series of stakes tries that included a 4 1/4-length victory in the Audubon Stakes on June 1 at Churchill Downs, hasn’t run a bad race. In the Nashville Derby, on Aug. 31 at Kentucky Downs, Cugino finished last of 12, beaten 20 lengths.

“Hopefully, it was just Kentucky Downs,” trainer Shug McGaughey said. “He’s trained good since we got back here. I would hope he runs good over this course. He didn’t run a yard over there. I have to blame it on the track.”

In the Audubon, Flavien Prat put Cugino on the lead, the only time the horse has ever been up front from start to finish. Prat is aboard again Saturday.

“When he won the lead, he broke good, nobody went, and he was there,” McGaughey said. Prat “said he was going to take advantage of it. He likes to ride up close, so I’d say he’ll be up close.”

Royal Majesty, a son of Frankel, is coming out of a runner-up finish behind Donegal Momentum in the Gio Ponti Stakes going a mile here Oct. 3. Royal Majesty was third in the Grade 2 Pennine Ridge in his lone run at 1 1/8 miles on turf.

Desivo, third in the Virginia Derby, Right to Vote, Main Beach, and Bartlett complete the field.

The Hill Prince is carded as the fifth race on a 10-race card that begins at 11:40 a.m. and includes the Grade 2, $300,000 Red Smith and the $150,000 Aqueduct Turf Sprint Championship.

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