Ny Traffic starts Breeders' Cup drive in Salvator Mile.
Following a sharp comeback win at Belmont Park, Ny Traffic could be in the fast lane to the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile if he runs to form Saturday at Monmouth Park in the Grade 3, $150,000 Salvator Mile.
Ny Traffic, Paco Lopez named to ride, should be solidly favored over Pirate’s Punch in the Salvator Mile, the 10th of 13 races, with post time of 4:28 p.m. Eastern. Pirate’s Punch showed a fondness for Monmouth’s main track with two strong performances last season, but Ny Traffic in his lone local appearance came within a neck of upsetting Authentic in the Haskell.
That start came in mid-July. Last Sept. 5, Ny Traffic took a step back, finishing eighth in the Kentucky Derby, and on Oct. 3 he was beaten more than 20 lengths in the Preakness.
“The Preakness was one race too many,” trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said. “He was over the top. We just waited and gave him some time.”
About six months later, Ny Traffic returned to racing in a seven-furlong New York-bred allowance race, running to his odds-on favoritism with a smooth 6 3/4-length score that yielded a career-best 103 Beyer Speed Figure.
“We thought he’d win but didn’t know he’d win like that,” Joseph said. “That’s what you want to see from a comeback race.”
Ny Traffic has gotten ample recovery time from what looked, despite the quick time, like a fairly comfortable run at Belmont. His most recent work, June 7 at Belmont, was about one second slower than Joseph planned, but Joseph said the work rider just got the timing wrong and told him after the breeze that Ny Traffic felt fine.
“We weren’t sure he had the speed for seven furlongs, but he showed he did,” Joseph said. “This is kind of a test to see which way we go with him, two turns or one. If he were to run well, we’d point for the [BC Dirt] Mile.”
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Pirate’s Punch’s most recent start came in the 2020 Dirt Mile, where he finished 12th and came out of the race with a chipped knee that required surgical repair. Late last summer, Pirate’s Punch, a 5-year-old now, finished first as the best horse in the Iselin Stakes at Monmouth, was disqualified to second in a tough call, and came right back to win the Salvator Mile in September.
“He’s come back a bigger, stronger horse, put on some more weight, carrying more flesh,” Kentucky-based trainer Grant Forster said. “His workouts have just been brilliant: 22 and change, 35 and change finishes, and not blowing much after. I think he’s fit enough to win, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he got a little tired. Our goal is to have him ready for a whole year of racing.”
Pirate’s Punch drew post 10 and will be ridden by Robby Albarado, who piloted the gelding earlier in his career.
Bal Harbour finished third last year in the Iselin and the Salvator, and has no room to improve over that performance level at age 6.
While many other entrants look more like solid allowance-class performers than true graded stakes horses, West Will Power is the one with upset potential. The Kelly Breen-trained 4-year-old has raced only five times, winning a pair of Monmouth starts last season, and when last seen racing in April at Keeneland, he crushed second-level allowance foes over a sloppy track. He has worked steadily since late April.