Minaret Station brings consistency to Joe Hirsch Turf Classic

ELMONT, N.Y. – Minaret Station is winless in four starts this year. He is three lengths away from being unbeaten.

In a seven-horse field for Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic, a race that could be run in nasty weather conditions if a forecasted Nor’easter hits the area, perhaps Minaret Station running his race is the one thing handicappers can rely on.

Minaret Station was beaten three-quarters of a length by the filly Survie in the Grade 1 Christophe Clement on Aug. 15 at Saratoga. Minaret Station showed that day he could handle 1 1/2 miles, yielding turf, and adapt to a glacial pace. After closing from fifth in the six-horse Bowling Green to finish third, beaten a half-length, Minaret Station displayed a different running style in the Clement.

Jose Ortiz rode him in both spots and rides him again Saturday in this 1 1/2-mile stepping-stone to the Breeders’ Cup Turf on Oct. 31 at Keeneland.

“He rode him the first time and got off him and said, ‘I think I can do that a little bit different,’ ” said Will Walden, trainer of Minaret Station. “The horse allowed him to put him in the race a little bit more than he’s used to, which he should be. For a horse that’s competitive going a mile and a mile and a sixteenth, you think he could be involved in the top three or four going a mile and a half, and Jose was able to do that last race, which was arguably his best race. He just got beat on the square by a better horse that day – [Survie] is a freak. He ran a hell of a race, I thought, in defeat.”

There are three Grade 1 winners in the Joe Hirsch field – El Cordobes, Far Bridge, and Program Trading – but all have question marks.

El Cordobes, who won the Grade 1 Sword Dancer in 2025 and finished third in the Breeders’ Cup Turf, has run just once this year, a fifth-place finish in a Group 2 stakes in Qatar in February.

Trainer Charlie Appleby told the New York Racing Association that El Cordobes is priming for a campaign that includes Qatar and Dubai during the winter. It could include the Breeders’ Cup, should he run well Saturday. Appleby noted that El Cordobes likes “quick and flat tracks,” something that may not be in play depending when the rain arrives.

Flavien Prat, who rode El Cordobes in the 2025 Sword Dancer, reunites with him in the Hirsch.

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Far Bridge, who won the 2024 Sword Dancer, is returning from an injury he suffered winning the Grade 3 Pan American at Gulfstream in March. He won this race in 2024 when it was held at Aqueduct and won the Grade 2 Bowing Green last year over yielding turf.

Miguel Clement expressed concern over the weekend about if he had Far Bridge ready to fire his best race off the layoff in a high-quality field such as the Hirsch.

Program Trading won the Grade 1 Turf Classic at Churchill in 2024. After an injury and fruitless campaign in 2025, Program Trading did win the Grade 2 United Nations at Monmouth in July. He was tough to handle in the early stages of the Clement, a race in which he finished third, beaten 1 1/4 lengths.

Program Trading is trained by Chad Brown, who also sends out Asbury Park, the Grade 2 Jockey Club Derby winner in 2025 who most recently was beaten in a second-level allowance.

Fort George was beaten a nose in the Grade 2 Bowling Green, and after a foot abscess knocked him out of the Clement, he finished third in the Kentucky Downs Turf Cup on Sept. 5.

“I thought the [outside] draw wasn’t great. He was a step slow, it made life difficult for him,” trainer Ed Walker said. “It was a messy race, he was slightly caught up in it, but he ran very well. I hope and think Belmont will suit him better.”

Walker expressed some concern about the potential for less-than-firm ground.

“I don’t think he’d want a huge amount of rain. I think he’s properly equipped to cope with it as well as any other ones,” he said.

Pride of Arras is coming off a one-length victory in the Group 3 September Stakes over the synthetic surface at Kempton. Prior to that, he finished second in the Group 2 York Stakes to Item, a horse who came back to win the Group 1 Juddmonte International.

Emma Wilkinson, assistant to trainer Ralph Beckett, doesn’t seem to be concerned about course condition on Saturday.

“I don’t think it will bother him,” Wilkinson said. “He’s pretty straightforward. I think he’ll be quite versatile when it comes to ground.”

Pride of Arras, who will be ridden by James Doyle, did lay close to the pace in his last two starts.

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