National Flag eyes Pat Day Mile

The second of trainer Todd Pletcher’s three graded stakes victories at Aqueduct on Saturday came with National Flag, who won the Grade 3, $250,000 Bay Shore Stakes by four lengths.

Pletcher said a race like the Grade 3, $300,000 Pat Day Mile on the undercard of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs is now a possibility.

National Flag overcame a rough start in which he was slammed by Engage to his outside and from the inside by A Different Style, who bore out leaving the gate. National Flag showed a new dimension coming from 5 1/2 lengths off the pace to get the victory. He was assigned an 86 Beyer Speed Figure for the victory.

“When he got sandwiched at the start, I thought it was going to cost him the race,” Pletcher said Sunday. “Maybe it was a blessing. He rated, we learned something about him. He produced a good late kick and we may have lucked into a new racing style from him.”

National Flag, a son of Speightstown owned by the partnership of WinStar Farm, China Horse Club, and SF Racing, won a first-level allowance at Gulfstream on March 2 by pressing the pace.