Elusive Quality distance, course conditions suit Big Handsome

ELMONT, N.Y. – The best race Big Handsome has run in his career was a listed stakes run at seven furlongs over a Belmont turf course labeled good.

On Saturday, 23 months after winning the Paradise Creek Stakes here by 5 1/4 lengths, Big Handsome will get to run seven furlongs over a Belmont turf course likely to be labeled good in the $125,000 Elusive Quality Stakes. Rain was in the forecast Friday, expected to end by early Saturday morning.

In seven starts on turf in 2017, Big Handsome had three wins and lost three races by a combined 1 1/4 lengths. Since October 2017, Big Handsome has raced only three times, missing nine months after having a chip surgically removed from a hind ankle, according to trainer Tony Dutrow.

Big Handsome came off the bench with a strong second-place finish behind Latent Revenge in a 5 1/2-furlong allowance race at Fair Grounds on March 9.

“He doesn’t want 5 1/2,” Dutrow said. “He needs farther. He finished up well and ran good.”

After watching him breeze a half-mile Monday morning in 48.20 seconds over Belmont’s training track, Dutrow said of Big Handsome, “We all think he’s as good as we’ve ever seen him, if not better.”

His victory in the Paradise Creek was a culmination of a three-race win streak. He lost his next two races – the Manila and Grade 2 Hall of Fame – both to Bricks and Mortars, who won the inaugural Grade 1 Pegasus Turf Invitational and the Grade 2 Muniz Memorial in his two starts this year.

On Saturday, Manny Franco rides Big Handsome from post 6 in the seven-horse field.

There looks to be ample speed in the race with Abiding Star and Fixed Point likely to be forwardly placed from their inside draws.

Therapist, 3 for 3 at Belmont, and Krampus, 2 for 2 here, are strong contenders in the Elusive Quality, which goes as the ninth of 10 races on a card that begins at 1:30 p.m. Eastern.

KEY CONTENDERS

Big Handsome, by Street Boss

Last 3 Beyers: 90-89-66

◗ Returned from a nine-month layoff with a second in an allowance race at a distance shorter than he prefers.

◗ Has two wins and two losses by a neck in five starts over Belmont’s turf.

Therapist, by Freud

Last 3 Beyers; 85-83-88

◗ Has won all three of his starts at Belmont, including two stakes.

◗ Trainer Christophe Clement felt Therapist was “left with too much to do” when third in the Tropical Park Derby at Gulfstream on Dec. 29.

◗ He has been gelded since his last race.

“He’s easier to train,” Clement said.

Krampus, by Shakespeare

Last 3 Beyers: 91-86-89

◗ Won the Grade 3 Canadian Turf at Gulfstream on March 2, beating Breaking the Rules, who had beaten Therapist in the Tropical Park Derby.

◗ Adds blinkers after finishing a non-threatening third in the Grade 3 Appleton at Gulfstream on March 29.