More Than Looks gets rail again in re-drawn Hall of Fame Stakes

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- If at first you don’t succeed.

Such will be the case when it comes to the $500,000 National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame Stakes, which has been re-drawn for Friday’s card after having been postponed a week as a result of the final four races on last Friday’s program at Saratoga being canceled due to inclement weather. Unfortunately the status of the Hall of Fame remained uncertain once again this week following the cancelation of the final three turf races on Sunday’s program and with more rain in the long-range forecast for the local area on Thursday.

Nine of the original 10 entrants for the Grade 2 Hall of Fame, to be decided for 3-year-olds at a mile on the turf, signed on again with the connections of Nagirroc, who was the tepid morning line favorite at 7-2, opting to bypass the race the second time around to run instead the following day at Colonial Downs in the Secretariat Stakes.

The steadily improving More Than Looks, who easily defeated Nagirroc when rallying to a last-to-first victory in the Grade 3 Manila at Belmont Park on July 7, may now prove the tepid favorite. With trainer Cherie DeVaux finding herself in the same boat as her colleagues in the race, having to improvise her horse’s schedule in light of the unexpected postponement, which occurred while the field was already in the paddock for the Hall of Fame last Friday.

“It really isn’t an issue to have to wait another week. We just re-grouped, breezed him on Sunday, and he went well,” said DeVaux. “What isn’t ideal is not knowing exactly where we stand again this week. We’re kind of at the mercy of Mother Nature. I entered him in the Secretariat as a Plan B and have a van lined up to go just in case. Hopefully if this race is going to come off the grass or be postponed again, they’ll be able to give us a day’s notice. I’m not saying we would definitely go, but at least it gives us that option.”

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Coincidentally, More Than Looks had been assigned the rail when the Hall of Fame was originally drawn and he got the one hole once again when the pills were pulled for the race the second time around.

“I’d probably rather have gotten something on the outside, although with his running style, I don’t think the rail is that big of an issue,” DeVaux said. “He’s going to drop back and hopefully come running at the end.”

Trainer Chad Brown re-entered all three of his Hall of Fame contenders, Carl Spackler, Appraise, and Mischievous Angel, and like DeVaux also breezed all three over the main track on Sunday. The extra time is perhaps a bit of an advantage for the Grade 1-placed Appraise, who is coming off a hard-fought allowance victory against older horses making his 2023 debut only five weeks earlier at Belmont.

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Mysterious Night is perhaps the biggest mystery coming into the Hall of Fame. A runaway winner of the Grade 1 Summer Stakes when easily defeating Appraise in his 2-year-old finale, Mysterious Night has turned in two very sub-par performances to launch his 3-year-old campaign and had actually been scratched the morning of the Hall of Fame last week due to the prospect of a soft turf course.

Mysterious Night, who will race with blinkers for the first time if he starts on Friday, has given every indication he’s ready to bounce back with an improved performance having turned in a pair of impressive main track works within a three-day span here earlier this week, including a sharp half-mile in 48.49 seconds on Wednesday.

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