Jack Christopher stands out in Woody Stephens Stakes
ELMONT, N.Y. – The biggest race for 3-year-olds on Saturday at Belmont Park is obviously the Belmont Stakes, but it’s not so obvious that the best 3-year-old running Saturday at Belmont Park is in the Belmont Stakes.
No, a compelling case could be made that Jack Christopher holds that temporary title. Unbeaten in three starts, and winner here last year in the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes, Jack Christopher will appear on the track more than four hours before the Belmont, when he will head to the post as a prohibitive favorite in the Grade 1, $400,000 Woody Stephens going seven furlongs.
Jack Christopher is 1-2 on the morning line of David Aragona of Belmont Park, and it’s deserved. He is the most-accomplished of the six runners, has Beyer Speed Figures that are significantly superior to his rivals, and came back as good as he left, romping in the Grade 2 Pat Day Mile at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby Day in his first start since being sidelined before an intended start in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar.
Jack Chrisopher won the Pat Day Mile by 3 3/4 lengths while earning a 98 Beyer, four points shy of his Champagne fig.
“I was very pleased with his race,” trainer Chad Brown said, referring to the Pat Day Mile. “He had been training very, very well, but you never know when they’re coming off a layoff.”
The Woody Stephens, race 6 of 13 on Saturday, is designed to move Jack Christopher along to the Grade 1 Haskell at Monmouth next month. That will mark his belated two-turn debut.
“Cutting him back an eighth would not be my preference,” Brown said, referring to the seven furlongs of the Woody Stephens, “but it’s a Grade 1 for a big purse, and he loves Belmont Park. It’s hard to pass up. And the timing is great.”
Jack Christopher starts from the rail, with regular rider Jose Ortiz aboard.
Pappacap, a distant second to Jack Christopher in the Pat Day Mile, tries anew for trainer Mark Casse and does benefit from a subtle post switch. In the Pat Day Mile, Pappacap broke inside of Jack Christopher and set off for the lead in that 11-horse field. But this time he starts outside of Jack Christopher, giving rider Flavien Prat more options.
Trainers Steve Asmussen and Todd Pletcher both are doubling up in the Woody Stephens.
Asmussen’s best chance is the high-class Morello, freshened since injuring a hoof when he broke poorly April 9 in the Grade 2 Wood Memorial. That was his first loss after three victories around one turn.
“He needed time to grow his foot so we could put a shoe on,” Asmussen said. “Seven-eighths is the right distance for him.”
Morello won the seven-furlong Jimmy Winkfield at Aqueduct and the Grade 3 Gotham going one mile prior to the Wood Memorial. Joel Rosario takes over, replacing Jose Lezcano.
Asmussen also sends out Chasing Time, third most recently in the Grade 3 Chick Lang at Pimlico on Preakness Day. He is adding blinkers Saturday.
Pletcher is represented by Provacateur and the late-running Wit.
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Provocateur won the Hutcheson at Gulfstream Park in March, and most recently was second in the Gold Fever on May 15 at Belmont, both going six furlongs. This will be his graded stakes debut.
“He got stuck inside, but was closing well,” Pletcher said of the Gold Fever.
Luis Saez picks up the mount because Irad Ortiz Jr. has understandably opted for Wit, whom his brother Jose had to abandon for Jack Christopher. Wit is a dangerous late threat whom Irad Ortiz Jr. rode to a victory in the Grade 3 Sanford, a second in the Grade 1 Hopeful, and a third in the Champagne last year.
In his lone start this year, his first in six months, Wit got up just in time to take the Grade 3 Bay Shore on April 9 at Aqueduct at the same seven-furlong distance of the Woody Stephens.