Franco, Cancel to miss final week of Belmont meet

ELMONT, N.Y. – Albeit for different reasons, jockeys Manny Franco and Eric Cancel will sit out the final three days of the Belmont Park spring/summer meet.

Franco will miss the Friday-through-Sunday programs owing to a careless riding suspension handed him by the stewards for his ride on Chasing the Crown in the second race on June 22. Chasing the Crown finished second, but interfered with third-place finisher Verbal. The stewards disqualified Chasing the Crown and placed him behind Verbal.

Franco’s 28 wins have him third in the Belmont jockey standings.

Cancel is taking off the final week of the meet to rest his sore ankle. On June 17, Cancel was unseated when his mount, Fast Corey, ducked in and hit the inside rail of the inner turf course. Cancel didn’t ride again until June 25, when he had three mounts at Belmont.

Since then, Cancel rode just one horse, Outlaw Kid, to a sixth-place finish in the Grade 2 Highlander Stakes on Saturday at Woodbine.

Both Franco and Cancel are expected to return on the July 13 opening-day card at Saratoga.

Meanwhile, brothers Irad Ortiz Jr. and Jose Ortiz figure to fight it out for leading rider honors during the last week of the meet. Following Sunday’s program, the two were tied atop the standings with 49 wins apiece.

Solid field for Manila

Major Dude, winner of the Grade 2 Penn Mile, heads a field of eight entered for Friday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Manila Stakes scheduled for one mile on the Widener turf at Belmont Park.

Major Dude is one of six last-out winners in the field of eight, including stakes winners Nagirroc, Armstrong, and Dreaming of Kona.

Others in the field include Belouni, winner of the Woodhaven at Aqueduct in April; Activist Investing; Talk of the Nation, runner-up in the Jersey Derby; and More Than Looks, an allowance winner at Ellis Park.