Litfin's preview: Rescheduled Turf Writers kicks off Monday card
The $150,000 New York Turf Writers Cup, postponed due to inclement weather last Thursday, jumpstarts the Monday card as the penultimate week at the Spa comes to a close.
Seven geldings that ran in the A.P. Smithwick Memorial here July 31 reconvene in the Grade 1 steeplechase at 2 3/8 miles.
The European import Makari, who bested the 2 1/16-mile course record holder Demonstrative in his U.S. debut for Elizabeth Voss on July 31, attempts to become the first horse to pull off a Smithwick-Turf Writers double since Campanile in 1999.
Among the also-rans in the Smithwick eligible to improve in this longer race are Italian Wedding and All Together, the one-two finishers in the Turf Writers Cup a year ago.
One of the two new faces is For Non Stop, another import who won his U.S. debut by better than 27 lengths in early spring and followed with a third in the three-mile Iroquois behind the reigning Eclipse Award steeplechase champ Divine Fortune and Gustavian, who won the Grade 1 Lonesome Glory at Belmont Park last fall
The long and the short of it
After the jumpers make 2 1/2 circuits of the inner course in the Turf Writers, fillies and mares will dash 5 1/2 furlongs on the Mellon turf in race 9, the $100,000 Smart N Fancy Stakes.
Madame Giry, whose three wins over the local course include last year’s Smart N Fancy, will try to turn the tables on the morning-line favorite Free as a Bird, who beat her in the License Fee at Belmont Park in May and in the Caress here earlier this month.
In between those two scores, Free as a Bird won the Intercontinental, and she will be looking for a fourth straight win for Ian Wilkes.
Stars Above Me comes off an impressive U.S. debut taking the Coronation Cup for Graham Motion, and the 3-year-old filly now will face older stakes rivals for the first time. The Coronation Cup was just her second win, so she could have run in a softer spot for only slightly less money in race 3, a $90,000 optional claimer that admits non-winners of three lifetime.
To My Valentine, a four-length allowance winner with a 91 Beyer Speed Figure in her only Saratoga turf sprint last year, comes off a front-running win in high-end optional claimer at Belmont for Wesley Ward.
Horse to watch
BLUE PIGEON
Trainer: Christophe Clement
Last race: Aug. 23, 3rd
Finish: 2nd by 3
Beyer: 75
Favored for his second start of the year, this 3-year-old was stymied in traffic along the hedge through a good portion of the stretch run and passed five horses in the final yards once a clear lane materialized.