March gets first shot on turf in English Channel
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Chad Brown is doing so well these days that perhaps he can take a multiple graded stakes winner on dirt and turn him into a grass horse.
March, winner of the Grade 2 Woody Stephens and Grade 3 Bay Shore on dirt, will get a chance to prove himself on turf Sunday at Belmont Park in the $100,000 English Channel Stakes for 3-year-olds going a mile.
March has not been out since finishing sixth in the Grade 1 King’s Bishop at Saratoga. Brown worked March once on the turf at Saratoga – he went a half-mile in 50.40 seconds – and Brown said he liked the move but couldn’t find a suitable spot to try the turf with him until now.
“He’s a good work horse anyway, so it’s hard to be certain, but he certainly handled it just fine,” Brown said. “Thought it was the right time of year to try him on the turf to try and figure out what we want to do with him over the winter.”
Irad Ortiz Jr. rides March from post 8.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 8 March. Trainer Chad Brown is 10-5-1-0 with a $4.26 ROI over the past two years going sprint to route with horses trying turf for the first time. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
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The English Channel, perhaps the last opportunity for 3-year-olds to face their own age group in a New York stakes, drew a solid field, including Vision Perfect, A Lot, High Noon Rider, and Gallery.
Key contenders
Vision Perfect (Last 3 Beyers: 92-78-80)
* Has a 2-2-0 record from four starts over Belmont’s turf course with both wins coming at a mile.
* Set the pace before giving way late to Takeover Target as a 23-1 longshot in the Grade 3 Hill Prince at 1 1/8 miles in his last race.
“He’s won here,” said trainer David Donk. “Glad to see he’s back to the horse that he was early on. He ran a pretty good number last time.”
* Donk expects Vision Perfect to be on or near the lead.
High Noon Rider (Last 3 Beyers: 70-90-78)
* Won the Better Talk Now Stakes going a mile at Saratoga on the front end before finishing eighth as the 3-1 second choice in Grade 3 Jefferson Cup at Churchill.
* Trainer George Weaver said that even though the turf course that night was listed as firm, he thought it was softer than that.
“It definitely was not,” said Weaver. “You could see it breaking away from him. We told Corey Lanerie to make an attempt at the lead but left the door open for him to adjust if they go in 46. They went in 50, and he couldn’t make the lead, so I’m not sure he was handling that turf course.”
Gallery (Last 3 Beyers: 78-84-84)
* Won the Manila Stakes over A Lot in a four-horse field going a mile here in July.
* Finished second in the Mystic Lakes Derby at Canterbury before running sixth in the Laurel Turf Cup last month.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 6 Team Colors. Trainer Jimmy Jerkens is 6-4-0-0 with a $4.83 ROI over the past two years in turf routes with last-out winners. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan