Mr. Buff looks to get it done in Westchester

Mr. Buff has put together quite a résumé, but it’s been well documented that the New York-bred 7-year-old has never won a graded stakes. He could finally make the grade on Saturday in the Grade 3 Westchester, one of three $200,000 stakes on the 11-race Belmont card.

Mr. Buff has used his tactical speed to win 17 of 44 starts and over $1.3 million. Eleven of those scores came in stakes, including the open Jazil and Stymie at Aqueduct in his last two outings.

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The 4-5 morning-line favorite for Grade 3 Excelsior at Aqueduct on April 3, Mr. Buff was scratched on the morning of the race after showing signs of colic, according to trainer John Kimmel. He was fine shortly after being treated with antibiotics that day, and Kimmel said he’s content with the gelding’s condition.

“He’s doing quite well and we’re looking forward to getting him back in since we are now eight weeks since his last race,” Kimmel said. “He’s good and he’s ready to go.”

Mr. Buff worked two bullet half-miles during the first part of April, before going an easy half in 49 on April 21.

“He hasn’t missed a beat,” Kimmel said. “He’s won the Empire Classic twice, so he handles the [Belmont] track, and he’s been breezing on the main track, so he’s ready. Getting that graded stakes win is something we’ve been looking forward to, and hopefully he gets the job done on Saturday.”

Mr. Buff is drawn in post 5 outside the other speed in the six-horse field, with Edgard Zayas taking a day off from Gulfstream to ride him for the first time.

Manny Franco, who rode Mr. Buff to victory in the Feb. 27 Stymie, has the mount on Dr Post for trainer Todd Pletcher. Dr Post has been working bullets at Palm Beach Downs in preparation for his first start since a wide fourth in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy at Saratoga on Sept. 5. He was second in the Grade 1 Belmont and third in the Grade 1 Haskell last summer.

Trainer Shug McGaughey, who took the 2020 Westchester with Code of Honor, sends out allowance winner Top Seed, who could make some noise in his second start off the bench.

Fort Marcy Stakes

Trainer Chad Brown sends out three of the five starters in the Grade 2 Fort Marcy – Rockemperor, Devamani, and Tribhuvan. All three are European imports returning from an extended layoff.

Rockemperor and Devamani could vie for favoritism in the 1 1/8-mile turf event for older horses.

Rockemperor has never won a stakes, but the 5-year-old finished second or third in several major races last year, including the Grade 1 Turf Classic at Churchill and the Grade 1 Manhattan here going 1 1/4 miles.

Rockemperor wintered at Palm Meadows in Florida before working a half-mile in 50 at Belmont on April 24.

“He breezed here once and looked great,” said Brown’s New York-based assistant Dan Stupp. “Just by watching him gallop around, it appears that he’s awfully full of himself. He’s been galloping very forwardly, and it looks like he’s doing very well.”

Devamani notched his first stakes win in the Grade 2 Knickerbocker going 1 1/8 miles over yielding ground here Oct. 18. The late bloomer was claimed for $62,500 in the summer of 2019 at Saratoga when he was a 5-year-old.

Tribhuvan, a first-time gelding, defeated three next-out winners in a second-level allowance score in his last race July 4 at Belmont. Runner-up Ballagh Rocks subsequently took the Lure Stakes at Saratoga.

Franco rides Rockemperor, Jose Lezcano has the mount on Devamani, and Eric Cancel will get a leg up on Tribhuvan.

Brown has won the Fort Marcy four times, including in each of the past three years.

Sheepshead Bay Stakes

Brown has captured four of the last five runnings of this 1 3/8-mile, Grade 2 turf route for fillies and mares. He will try to keep his roll going with two French imports, the impeccably bred My Sister Nat and Orglandes.

Idle since a ninth-place finish in the Nov. 7 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Keeneland, My Sister Nat endured a heartbreaking second-place finish in the Grade 1 Flower Bowl at Belmont last October, which came after a second in the Grade 2 Glens Falls at Saratoga. Franco rides the 6-year-old half-sister to last year’s Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Sottsass.

Orglandes found the mark in her last outing, which came going 1 3/8 miles in the Grade 3 Red Carpet at Del Mar on Nov. 26. Cancel takes over on the 5-year-old.

Always Shopping is coming off a nose loss over the 1 3/8-mile distance of the Sheepshead Bay in the Grade 3 Orchid at Gulfstream. The victorious War Like Goddess exited the Orchid to romp in the Grade 3 Bewitch at Keeneland.

Rounding out the quality field are Grade 1 winner Magic Attitude and the Grade 3 winners Mutamakina and Antoinette.