Highland Sky a go if turf is firm for Man o'War

ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Barclay Tagg will be watching the weather intently over the next few days as he prepares Highland Sky for Saturday’s Grade 1, $400,000 Man o’ War Stakes at Belmont Park.

Tagg has Highland Sky ready to run, but he doesn’t want to run the colt over soft ground. Tagg scratched Highland Sky from last Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Fort Marcy because the turf came up soft. Rain is again in the forecast for Saturday after dry conditions prevailed for most of this week.

“He has a tendency toward suspensory soreness,” Tagg said this week. “I don’t want to run him on soft turf. He’s doing great right now. It’s driving us crazy.”

Highland Sky was one of eight horses entered Wednesday for the Man o’ War, the first of nine Grade 1 stakes to be run at the Belmont meet. It is also one of four stakes on Saturday’s card, along with the Grade 2, $250,000 Ruffian for fillies and mares on dirt; the Grade 3, $200,000 Peter Pan for 3-year-olds on dirt; and the Grade 3, $150,000 Beaugay for fillies and mares on turf.

Last year, Highland Sky won the Woodhaven Stakes at Aqueduct in April, then finished second, beaten a neck, in both the Grade 3 Pennine Ridge and Grade 1 Belmont Derby. He was sidelined for the remainder of the year with a foot issue and soreness in the suspensory.

He made a nice return to the races at Gulfstream, winning a second-level allowance race on Feb. 25 from the outside post in a 12-horse field.

Highland Sky drew post 5 in the eight-horse field for the Man o’ War, scheduled for 1 3/8 miles over the inner turf. Sadler’s Joy, the Pan American winner, drew the rail and was followed by Charming Kitten, Wake Forest, Zhukova, Highland Sky, Patterson Cross, Twilight Eclipse, and Taghleeb.