Navarro hoping to shift spotlight to Kelso favorite Sharp Azteca

ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Jorge Navarro hopes to get back to a sense of normalcy Saturday when he runs the likely odds-on favorite Sharp Azteca in the Grade 2, $300,000 Kelso Handicap at Belmont Park.

Navarro has had a turbulent few weeks after several tracks barred him from running horses in the wake of a well-circulated video that displayed he and one of his owners suggesting chicanery and using profanity while watching a horse his brother Marcial trained win a race at Gulfstream Park. On Wednesday, the New Jersey Racing Commission closed the case by doubling Navarro’s fine to $10,000 and placing him on probation for conduct detrimental to racing.

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“It hasn’t been a good month on my behalf,” Navarro said. “If it wasn’t for my wife, I think I would have quit. This hit me pretty hard. If I have to apologize for the rest of my life I will do it. I’m a horse trainer, this is the only thing I know how to do. If they take that away from me, what am I going to do? I do believe I was wrong – I’m not apologizing just because it’s what people want to hear.”

Navarro said the New York Racing Association has had security around his barn since Wednesday, monitoring Sharp Azteca.

“I’m very pleased they’re watching over my horse,” Navarro said.

Navarro hopes his horses, not his conduct, garner the headlines from here on out. Sharp Azteca is certainly the headliner in the Kelso, a one-turn mile race that could lead as a stepping-stone to the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Del Mar on Nov. 3.

Sharp Azteca is 2 for 4 this year, with a third in the Grade 1 Godolphin Mile and a second to Mor Spirit in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap on June 10.

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His performance in the Met Mile was strong considering the horse had missed some time since Dubai due to a significant cut on a hind ankle that was slow to heal. Following the Met Mile, Sharp Azteca won the Monmouth Cup by 7 1/2 lengths on July 30.

The Kelso is a one-turn mile, a configuration at which Sharp Azteca has four wins from six starts.

Sharp Azteca looms the primary speed in the six-horse field. He will break from post 5 and carry 124 pounds, spotting the rest of the field seven to eight pounds.

“He’s got to show up for us to take him to the Breeders’ Cup,” Navarro said. “He’s doing excellent.”

Divining Rod, beaten a head by Connect in last year’s Cigar Mile, looms the primary threat to Sharp Azteca. Tom’s Ready, Tommy Macho, Ross, and Bird Song complete the field.

KEY CONTENDERS

Sharp Azteca, by Freud
Last 3 Beyers: 109-106-NA

◗ He is a two-time graded stakes winner going a one-turn mile, including a 4 1/2-length score in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Handicap to begin the year in February.

◗ Shipped to Belmont to get a workout over the main track, which was timed in 1:00 for five furlongs. Navarro said he wanted to get a workout in at Belmont because “the New York tracks are much deeper than Monmouth Park,” where the horse is based.

Divining Rod, by Tapit
Last 3 Beyers: 96-104-105

◗ Finished fourth in the Grade 1 Forego two weeks after winning a seven-furlong stakes in the mud at Laurel in his first start off a nine-month layoff.

◗ Ran the best race of his career in last year’s Grade 1 Cigar Mile, losing a head bob to Connect.

◗ “I’m perfectly happy to go back to a one-turn mile,” trainer Arnaud Delacour said. “Hopefully that should be the right distance for him. He’s never run at Belmont, so it remains to be seen if he likes the track.”

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