Embolden gets real test in Futurity

ELMONT, N.Y. – Embolden may have beaten up on Virginia-breds in winning two races at Colonial Downs this summer, but the manner in which he did it makes him a contender in Sunday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Futurity at Belmont Park.

The Futurity, for the second straight year being run on turf at six furlongs, is a Win and You’re In race for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Santa Anita on Nov. 1. Last year’s Futurity winner, Uncle Benny, actually finished second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at a mile.

Embolden, a son of The Factor, finished second to Meru on dirt at Monmouth Park in his debut. That runner-up performance was flattered when Meru came back to win the Smoke Glacken Stakes by 3 1/4 lengths at Monmouth Park while earning a 95 Beyer Speed Figure.

Embolden went to Colonial, where he won a five-furlong maiden race by 10 lengths on Aug. 8 then took the Jamestown Stakes by 3 3/4 lengths.

“We’ve liked this horse from the beginning,” trainer Michael Stidham said. “All his works leading up to his first race were solid. When Meru came back to win that stake at Monmouth that made us feel pretty good. We had to take advantage of the Virginia-bred conditions.”

Though Embolden won his two races at Colonial on the lead, Stidham is confident his horse can come from off the pace. He has tabbed jockey Joel Rosario to ride Embolden on Sunday.

“I think Rosario is going to fit him well because I don’t think he needs the lead,” Stidham said. “Joel can get him to settle and let him finish.”

Also running in the Futurity out of a win at Colonial Downs is Four Wheel Drive, who was talented enough to win an open stakes by 3 1/4 lengths at first asking. Two horses he beat in that Aug. 31 race – runner-up So Street and fourth-place Hypothesis – came back to win restricted stakes at Laurel and Charles Town, respectively.

Another Miracle finished second to Green Light Go in his debut before winning an off-the-turf maiden race at Saratoga on July 24 and then the Skidmore Stakes by 1 3/4 lengths on Aug. 16. In the Skidmore, he broke on top, let another horse go, then gradually wore that one down.

Freewheeler, despite coming wide off the turn, won a maiden race by 5 1/4 lengths at first asking at Saratoga for trainer Todd Pletcher. He gets a rider switch to John Velazquez as Irad Ortiz Jr., on for the maiden score, rides Four Wheel Drive.

Jack and Noah won a six-furlong maiden race by 1 1/4 lengths on Sept. 27 and was a supplemental nomination by owner Gary Barber and trainer Mark Casse.

Tomato Bill, second in the Grade 3 Sanford on dirt at Saratoga on July 13, will try turf for the first time. A son of More Than Ready trained by Christophe Clement, Tomato Bill gets Lasix for the first time.