Noble Bird needs improvement to win Ben Ali
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Noble Bird was among the Grade 1 winners of 2015 in a career season for trainer Mark Casse. However, while two of his stablemates – Eclipse Award winner Tepin and Canadian champion Catch a Glimpse – were heavy program favorites at Keeneland this week, Noble Bird is viewed with more skepticism in his return here. Noble Bird is 7-2 on the morning line for the Grade 3, $200,000 Ben Ali Stakes on Saturday, seeking his first win since taking the Grade 1 Stephen Foster Handicap last June.
Noble Bird started off last year by running sixth in an Oaklawn allowance sprint, then winning optional-claiming races at Oaklawn Park and Keeneland. He finished a close second in the Grade 2 Alysheba Stakes at Churchill and then won the Foster. He finished ninth in the Grade 1 Whitney Handicap at Saratoga – a race won by eventual champion Honor Code – and emerged with a hip injury that sent him to the sidelines for the rest of the season.
Noble Bird returned in February in an optional-claiming race at Oaklawn. Rank off the bench, he was five wide on the turns of the one-mile race and finished sixth. He looks to move forward off that needed outing Saturday as he breaks from post 5 with Julien Leparoux aboard.
Among his nine opponents in the 1 1/8-mile Ben Ali, for 4-year-olds and up, is Eagle, who had a productive winter at Fair Grounds for trainer Neil Howard. Eagle won the Tenacious Stakes, finished second in the Louisiana Stakes and Grade 3 Mineshaft Handicap, and was elevated from fourth to third by a disqualification after a troubled trip in the Grade 2 New Orleans Handicap. He comes to Keeneland still seeking his first graded stakes victory. Regular rider Brian Hernandez has the mount from post 6.
The multiple graded stakes winner and millionaire Neck ’n Neck comes off a runner-up effort, beaten a half-length, in the Challenger Stakes on March 12 at Tampa Bay Downs. Neck ’n Neck finished second in this race last year. The Grade 1-placed General a Rod signaled that he could be ready for a solid season with a 7 1/2-length allowance win in January at Gulfstream Park. He then shipped across the country for the Santa Anita Handicap and finished ninth after pressing the pace.
Breaking Lucky, a Canadian classic winner on dirt last year, finished third in the Challenger. Ami’s Holiday is also a Canadian classic winner but is winless since taking that event on turf nearly two years ago.
◗ Also on the card Saturday is the $100,000 Giant’s Causeway Stakes, for fillies and mares sprinting 5 1/2 furlongs on the turf. The field is led by two recent stakes winners, Miss Double d’Oro, who took the Arboretum at Santa Anita, and Miss Matzoball, who won the Captiva Island at Gulfstream Park.
Also in the field is Miss Ella, who won the Grade 2 Beaumont Stakes on the Keeneland dirt last spring and finished second to Lady Shipman in a turf stakes last year.
Key contenders
Ben Ali Stakes
Noble Bird, by Birdstone
Last 3 Beyers: 74-73-108
◗ Owns the field’s highest Beyer Speed Figure of the last two years, the 108 he posted when winning the Stephen Foster.
Eagle, by Candy Ride
Last 3 Beyers: 96-99-97
◗ Twice an allowance or optional-claiming winner at Keeneland.
◗ His win at Keeneland last October began a streak of six consecutive races in which he has earned 90-plus Beyers, including a career-high 99 two starts back.
Neck ’n Neck, by Flower Alley
Last 3 Beyers: 92-97-89
◗ He is winless at Keeneland but has been on the board in three of four starts here.
General a Rod, by Roman Ruler
Last 3 Beyers: 83-105-82
◗ His career-best 105 Beyer earned at Gulfstream is the best number earned by this field in 2016.