Multiple next-race options for Minorette, Mr Speaker

ELMONT, N.Y. - The Breeders’ Cup is the major objective for the winners of Saturday’s two seven-figure Grade 1 turf races for 3-year-olds at Belmont Park, but how each horse gets there remained an unanswered question on Sunday morning.

By virtue of her two-length victory in the $1 million Belmont Oaks - a designated “Win and You’re In” race - Minorette earned an automatic berth into the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf to be run on Nov. 1 at Santa Anita. Trainer Chad Brown said his options for Minorette’s next start are the Grade 1, $750,000 Beverly D. at Arlington, where she would face older fillies and mares, or the Grade 2, $300,000 Lake Placid at Saratoga against 3-year-old fillies. Both races are on Aug. 16. The biggest Grade 1 turf stakes remaining for 3-year-old fillies is the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland on Oct. 11.

“Long term, the QE II is the other big grass race for 3-year-old fillies,” Brown said. “Maybe wait to take on the olders until firm ground at a mile and a quarter at the Breeders’ Cup if she’s still running good numbers. She’s only improving.”

Minorette, a daughter of Smart Strike owned by the Coolmore connections of Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, and Susan Magnier, earned a 92 Beyer Speed Figure for the performance.

The $1.25 million Belmont Derby was not a “Win and You’re In” race for the Breeders’ Cup Turf, but trainer Shug McGaughey would certainly like to get his 3-year-old Mr Speaker to that event if possible. Mr Speaker bounced back from a last-place finish in the Pennine Ridge Stakes with a last-to-first victory in the Belmont Derby at 23-1.

McGaughey said Mr Speaker came out of the race well but he had no immediate plans for the son of Pulpit owned and bred by the Phipps Stable. Though Mr Speaker won the Lexington Stakes over a synthetic surface, McGaughey said shipping cross-country for a race like the $1 million Pacific Classic on Aug. 24 over Del Mar’s Polytrack is not what he had in mind.

McGaughey’s other options include the Grade 1 Secretariat at Arlington on Aug. 16 or one of two spots at Saratoga - the Grade 2, $200,000 National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame on Aug. 8 or the Grade 3, $300,000 Saranac on Sept. 1.

While he didn’t rule out running in the Secretariat, McGaughey expressed a preference to “stay home just because of the way he is.” McGaughey noted that Mr Speaker acted funny in the paddock and on the track prior to the Pennine Ridge.

Mr Speaker earned a 95 Beyer Speed Figure.

Belmont Derby runner-up Adelaide was expected to return to trainer Aidan O’Brien’s Ireland yard.

Clearly Now, who set a track record for seven furlongs [1:19.96] winning the Grade 3, $400,000 Belmont Sprint Championship by 6 1/4 lengths, will be pointed to the Grade 1 Forego at Saratoga on Aug. 30, trainer Brian Lynch said Sunday. The Forego, like the Belmont Sprint, is run at seven furlongs.

“Certainly the Forego is the next spot for him,” Lynch said by phone from Canada. “That’ll probably be spot on for him. Then we’ll take it from there.”

Lynch said the key to Clearly Now is how he breaks and after a couple of rough starts to begin the year, he got away from the gate cleanly on Saturday.

“It was nice to see him lay that close and still finish like he did,” Lynch said.

The New York-bred Zivo gave Brown and owner Thomas Coleman something to think about after that colt upset the Grade 2, $500,000 Suburban by three lengths over Moreno. It was ZIvo's fifth consecutive victory and he is now 9-2-4 from 15 career starts.

Instead of pointing to a race like the $100,000 Evan Shipman for New York-breds at Saratoga, Zivo might be a contender for the $1.5 million Whitney Handicap Invitational on Aug. 2.

“Obviously, it’s another big step up,” Brown said. “We’ll monitor the field, the additions and defections, take a look at it. We’re in no rush to pin him down to a specific race. We’ll see how he comes out of it. He’s been so good to us we’ll just take our time.”

Brown said Last Gunfighter, who finished ninth as the second choice, came out of the race with some scratches but was otherwise okay.

“Seemed like he had a bit of a crossed up trip, was between horses for a lot of the race. He steadied for one part of it and never really found his rhythm,” Brown said. “He can be a bit of a grinder. He’s one of those horses that has to keep moving forward in the race.”

Zivo earned a 100 Beyer Speed Figure for the Suburban. That was the same number that Kid Cruz earned for winning the Dwyer Stakes on Saturday.

Kid Cruz, winner of the Grade 3, $200,000 Dwyer Stakes, will likely be considered for the Grade 2, $600,000 Jim Dandy at Saratoga on July 27.