Luck Money has profile for 1 1/2-mile Zagora

ELMONT, N.Y. – Luck Money is the only 3-year-old in the field of nine fillies and mares who will try to navigate 1 1/2 miles around Belmont Park’s Widener turf course in Saturday’s $80,000 Zagora Stakes. But if her previous stakes effort is an indication, she more than fits in this seemingly wide-open affair.

Two starts back, in the $450,000 Dueling Grounds Oaks at Kentucky Downs, Luck Money finished third, 1 1/4 lengths behind Micheline and Harvey’s Lil Goil. Those two 3-year-olds flipped the script in the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II at Keeneland with Harvey’s Lil Goil beating Micheline. Stunning Sky, fourth in the Dueling Grounds Oaks, came back to win the Grade 3 Valley View Stakes on Oct. 16 at Keeneland.

The Dueling Grounds Oaks was run at 1 5/16 miles, making it the farthest Luck Money has run. Trainer Arnaud Delacour is hopeful the added distance won’t be an issue for Luck Money who does have the long-distance runner Dynever in her pedigree.

“The mile and a half is still an unknown, but her running style should help her. She’s a very relaxed filly, she usually doesn’t pull and is easy to ride, so I hope she can stretch to a mile and a half,” Delacour said.

Luck Money came out of the Dueling Grounds Oaks to win a 1 1/8-mile first-level allowance Oct. 2 at Keeneland.

Delacour also ships up the 4-year-old Cambeliza, a daughter of Curlin who is coming off a second-place finish to Eliade in a 1 1/2-mile allowance Oct. 8 at Keeneland. This will represent her stakes debut.

“Cambeliza has already run a mile and a half and liked it quite a bit. It was a good performance at Keeneland, so I was happy with that,” Delacour said. “I have a question mark with the soft going; she’s run once on kind of a good-to-soft turf at Laurel Park and [finished seventh]. She was also coming back off a layoff, so I don’t know if she needed the race or she didn’t like it soft.”

Trainer Christophe Clement sends out the pair of Olympic Games and Mutamakina. Olympic Games finished second to Civil Union in the River Memories going 1 1/2 miles here in July and was fifth in the Grade 3 Waya at that same distance in Saratoga. Clement said he believes Olympic Games might prefer 1 1/4 miles but has limited options.

Mutamakina, successful at 1 1/4 miles in Europe, is making her U.S. debut in this spot.

“I don’t know if she’ll stay the mile and a half on softer turf, but unless you try you don’t know,” Clement said. “I like her, she’s pretty exciting. To train, she’s been pretty nice so far.”

Beau Belle has shown an affinity for yielding ground and gets some class relief after finishing sixth in the Grade 1 Flower Bowl last out. Cap de Creus, Lemon Zip, Lucky Stride, and Hungry Kitten complete the field.