Morley back for second helping in Gio Ponti
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OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Tom Morley won the Gio Ponti Stakes last year with a horse making just his second start on turf and one who went on to become a Grade 3 winner with perhaps bigger things to come.
On Sunday, Morley will seek to win the $150,000 Gio Ponti for a second straight year with a 3-year-old making his second start on turf. If Griffin’s Wharf can reach the heights of Donegal Momentum, Morley will be quite content.
“I really hope this horse can follow that sort of trajectory,” said Morley, who is pointing Donegal Momentum to next weekend’s Grade 1 Coolmore Turf Mile at Keeneland.
Unlike Donegal Momentum, who won his turf debut, Griffin’s Wharf finished second when he ran in a first-level allowance going a mile on Aug. 7 at Saratoga. Griffin’s Wharf had to steady off heels entering the first turn, lost some position around the far turn, and then had to alter course in the stretch when finishing three-quarters of a length behind Stars and Strides. That horse came back to win the Saranac Stakes at Saratoga, and two others from the Aug. 7 allowance also came back to win their next starts.
“He definitely lost a length or two going into the first turn,” Morley said. “Johnny [Velazquez] and I did talk about it beforehand. On dirt, he can grind away close to the pace, but to find out if he’s going to be a really good turf horse we need to sit off the pace a little bit and see if he could quicken. Maybe in hindsight we got ourselves a little bit farther back than we would have liked, but I thought he finished the race incredibly well. He was a little unlucky around there and still beat some nice horses.”
With Velazquez at Santa Anita on Sunday to ride champion sprinter Straight No Chaser, Ricardo Santana Jr. has picked up the mount on Griffin’s Wharf.
Magic Pathway finished second to Stars and Strides in the Saranac, coming from off the pace, after winning a Colonial Downs allowance race on the lead three weeks earlier. Trainer Michael Trombetta felt Magic Pathway had a little bit of a challenging trip in the Saranac.
“He was down inside and he was in tight and he had to wait a while,” Trombetta said.
Kendrick Carmouche, aboard for the Saranac, is back Sunday.
Church and State and Snookie Bear were both cross-entered in this race and Saturday’s $150,000 Kent Stakes at Delaware Park. Church and State will run in the Gio Ponti, Snookie Bear in the Kent.
Dale Desruisseaux, trainer of Church and State, said he prefers the mile distance to the Kent’s 1 1/8 miles and likes having an extra day for the turf course, which received some rain Thursday, to dry out.
Candytown, trained by Todd Pletcher, was a perfect-trip winner of a first-level allowance race Aug. 30 at Saratoga, 23 days after having a less-than-ideal run in the same allowance that Griffin’s Wharf finished second.
Capitol Hill, a fast-closing second to Zulu Kingdom in the Grade 3 Manila in July at Saratoga, will try to bounce back from a non-effort in the Gun Runner Stakes at Kentucky Downs.
X Y Prime and Salamis round out the Gio Ponti field.
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