Distance a big hurdle for Catch a Glimpse in Belmont Oaks
ELMONT, N.Y. – Tepin isn’t the only female turf runner in trainer Mark Casse’s barn riding a seven-race winning streak. Catch a Glimpse puts her seven-race streak on the line in Saturday’s $1 million Belmont Oaks against 12 other 3-year-old fillies.
The Belmont Oaks, which provides its winner a fees-paid berth in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf in November at Santa Anita, will be a distance test for Catch a Glimpse, who tries 1 1/4 miles for the first time. She has yet to run farther than 1 1/16 miles.
“I think she’ll be just fine,” Casse said Thursday. “You never know till you try. If you watch every race she’s ever run in – with the exception of her last race – they’ll come to her when she’s galloping out, and she takes off again.”
Her last race was against the boys in the Penn Mile at Penn National. It was her stablemate Airoforce who finished second and then proceeded to gallop out past Catch a Glimpse. Airoforce is running in the Belmont Derby earlier on Saturday’s card.
Catch a Glimpse, who breaks from post 12 under Florent Geroux, likely will be the horse to catch in the Belmont Oaks.
Trainer Aidan O’Brien has sent over two horses from Ireland, including Coolmore, who could act as a rabbit for Ballydoyle, who is a Group 1 winner and comes from off the pace.
Time and Motion was beaten 1 3/4 lengths by Catch a Glimpse in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf but hasn’t lost since. She is 3 for 3 this year, with each race an improvement in the Beyer Speed Figure department.
Trainer Jimmy Toner sees Time and Motion improving in her training as well.
“She shows like she’s getting stronger all the time, more mature, so her development is coming along at the right time,” Toner said.
Trainer Chad Brown has won the last three runnings of this race – twice in its current state as the Belmont Oaks and in 2013, when it was known as the Garden City and run in September. On Saturday, Brown sends out the trio of Noble Beauty, Last Waltz, and Pricedtoperfection.
The Belmont Oaks goes as race 10 and is part of a late daily double with the Grade 3 Belmont Sprint Championship that has a guaranteed pool of $250,000.
KEY CONTENDERS
Ballydoyle, by Galileo
◗ A Grade 1 winner at 2 in France, she was second to her more-accomplished stablemate Minding in the English 1000 Guineas on May 1.
◗ Most recently, she finished sixth, beaten 3 1/4 lengths, in the Group 1 Prix de Diane at Chantilly, run over soft ground. T.J. Comerford, assistant to trainer O’Brien, believes Ballydoyle and the stable’s other runners on this card want firm turf.
“As well as they have been running, they’re probably better on top of the ground,” Comerford said. “She’s the best of them. Her form is that good.”
Time and Motion, by Tapit
Last 3 Beyers: 90-82-78
◗ Looks for her fourth straight win while trying 1 1/4 miles for the first time. Doesn’t seem to be as reliant on pace as she was a year ago.
“Johnny [Velazquez] is able to put her into her races earlier this year, and you can put her into a nice tracking spot as opposed to her 2-year-old year, when she didn’t have anything early but would finish good,” Toner said.
Catch a Glimpse, by City Zip
Last 3 Beyers: 92-91-87
◗ Has won all seven of her starts on turf and figures to use her speed to try to wire this field.
“She has a pretty high cruising speed,” Casse said. “Anybody who goes with her won’t be there at the end.”
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 12 Catch a Glimpse. Trainer Mark Casse is 14-1-2-1 with a $0.80 ROI over the past five years in Grade 1 stakes on the NYRA circuit (12-0-1-1 with horses not named Tepin).Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
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Noble Beauty, by Kitten’s Joy
Last 3 Beyers: 86-83-71
◗ Looks to have the most upside of the three Brown-trained runners.
◗ She comes out of a good second behind a loose-on-the-lead Auntie Joy in the Grade 3 Regret Stakes at Churchill.
“She’s improving,” Brown said. “She’s lightly raced, but she acts like a horse that really wants a mile and a quarter.”
◗ Javier Castellano is back aboard for the first time since the filly’s first win.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 5 Noble Beauty. Trainer Chad Brown is 16-5-5-1 with a $3.49 ROI over the past five years in turf route Grade 1 stakes when making a jockey switch to Javier Castellano. – Mike Hogan
Harmonize, by Scat Daddy
Last 3 Beyers: 88-88-82
◗ She was outfinished by Time and Motion when beaten just a half-length in the Wonder Again Stakes.
◗ Trainer Bill Mott adds blinkers to Harmonize’s equipment for this race.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 6 Harmonize. Trainer Bill Mott is 14-1-1-0 with a $0.60 ROI over the past five years adding blinkers in stakes races. – Mike Hogan
Last Waltz, by Danehill Dancer
Last 3 Beyers: 85-79-62
◗ Rallied from last to finish third at 22-1 in the Wonder Again, her first race with blinkers.
“I particularly liked her with the blinkers on,” Brown said. “I think she’s going to appreciate a mile and a quarter.”
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 2 Decked Out. Trainer Keith Desormeaux is 18-1-1-1 with a $0.29 ROI over the past two years in routes outside of California. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan