North Star Boy preps for Claiming Crown
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Niall Saville is based in Maryland but has picked his spots well in New York, having won with 8 of 49 starters he has sent to the three New York Racing Association tracks, with an in-the-money percentage of 45.
One of those winners was North Star Boy, who shipped to Aqueduct last Nov. 9 to win a first-level allowance race at 1 1/16 miles on turf. Exactly one year later, North Star Boy returns to Aqueduct to run in a third-level allowance race at 1 1/16 miles on turf.
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North Star Boy’s task was made somewhat easier by the news that trainer Christophe Clement plans to scratch War Correspondent from the race and run him instead in Sunday’s $200,000 Autumn Stakes at Woodbine.
North Star Boy won last year’s race coming off a 50-day layoff following a 2 3/4-length loss in allowance company at Laurel. North Star Boy enters Sunday’s race off a 71-day layoff following a 2 1/2-length loss to two-time Horse of the Year Wise Dan in the Grade 2 Bernard Baruch Handicap at Saratoga.
“Super proud of him,” said Saville, who last month won his first stakes when Legendary won the Grade 3 Knickerbocker at Belmont. “I wish we would have been able to get a bit more in the race early, but you can’t knock his effort against that company.”
Last year, Saville used the Aqueduct race as a stepping-stone to the Claiming Crown at Gulfstream, where North Star Boy finished second in the Emerald. Saville is hoping to follow the same pattern this year.
“I would have liked to have the race last week, to have a little more time to get to the Claiming Crown,” Saville said.
The Claiming Crown will be run Dec. 6 at Gulfstream.
North Star Boy’s challengers include Front, who is 3 for 3 at Aqueduct; Mutin, who returns off an eight-month layoff and gets Lasix for the first time; and Sinatra, who was elevated to first by the stewards in a race similar to this on Aug. 30 at Saratoga.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 8 Mutin. Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin is 19-6-0-2 with a $5.99 ROI over the past five years in turf races with foreign shippers new to his barn. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
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Key contenders
North Star Boy (Last 3 Beyers: 98-94-88)
◗ He owns a win at the distance and over the course and seems better now than he was on this day last year.
◗ Saville said that North Star Boy had a stone bruise in a foot shortly after the Bernard Baruch Handicap but has had ample time to recover.
“We were dealing with that while he was resting,” Saville said. “He’s doing great.”
Front (Last 3 Beyers: 77-91-89)
◗ This New York-bred son of War Front is 3 for 3 over Aqueduct’s turf course, including an open-company allowance win here in April.
◗ Trainer Jimmy Jerkens, who had great success when adding blinkers to horses’ equipment earlier this year, is removing blinkers from Front for this race.
“He’d be easier to rate,” Jerkens said when asked why the change. “I should have probably left them on and took more of the cup off instead of taking them off altogether. Worth a try.”
Mutin
◗ French-bred colt is trained by Kiaran McLaughlin and makes North American debut.
◗ He has run eight times, with his first four starts resulting in victories in France, but he was soundly beaten in his last four, including two on synthetics in Dubai.
“He’s trained really well, nice horse,” said McLaughlin, who noted that he’s had the horse since August. “I don’t know what happened after his first four. Happy to get him started.”
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 5 War Correspondent. Beat a weak field in his North American debut at Monmouth; field is 6-0-0-0 in subsequent starts. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan