Papa Yo gets class relief while running in same company

ELMONT, N.Y. – Technically, Papa Yo is not taking a drop in class when he runs in a first-level allowance Friday at Belmont Park. But the company he faces in this race doesn’t look as daunting as the two horses he finished behind last month at Saratoga.

On Sept. 5, Papa Yo finished third behind Preside and Iron Dome in this same condition going 1 1/8 miles at Saratoga. Preside was winning his second straight race for Steve Asmussen and looks like a potential star in the making, while Iron Dome is a stakes-winning New York-bred who in the summer of 2025 won three consecutive races by a combined margin of 28 1/4 lengths.

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Prior to his third-place finish behind those two horses, Papa Yo won a starter allowance at Saratoga by 5 1/2 lengths, that being his first start in four months and first for trainer Linda Rice. Ez Roll and Fateful Lighting finished second and third behind Papa Yo in that Aug. 7 race. Fateful Lightning and Ez Roll finished one-two in a starter allowance on Sept. 3 at Saratoga. Leftembehind, fourth to Papa Yo, came back to win a $25,000 claimer on Oct. 10 at Belmont.

Papa Yo has a few things working in his favor in Friday’s 1 1/16-mile race. First, he looms the controlling speed breaking from post 2 under Manny Franco. Second, there is a forecast for rain, and Papa Yo is 2 for 3 over a wet track.

The New York-bred Moe Eighty Eight returns to the races in this spot, making his first start for trainer Amelia Green. He was previously trained by John Ortiz, who recently announced his retirement.

Moe Eighty Eight was one of six Ortiz-trained horses who tested positive for the controlled substance dexamethasone at Aqueduct last fall. Moe Eighty Eight tested positive following his 8 1/2-length New York-bred allowance win on Nov. 29, for which he has been disqualified. Moe Eighty Eight came back a month later to win a second-level New York-bred allowance by 12 1/4 lengths, a race for which he earned 109 Beyer Speed Figure.

After briefly being considered for the Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream, Moe Eighty Eight finished second in an open allowance race at Aqueduct in February and then fourth in the same condition at Oaklawn Park on March 28. He has not run since.

Trainer Rick Dutrow Jr. has the pair of Willintoriskitall and Three B’s in this spot. Willintoriskitall is coming out of a fifth-place finish in first-level allowance Sept. 19, while Three B’s goes first off the claim for Dutrow, who took him off Rice for $45,000 out of a winning effort in New York-bred company on Sept. 5 at Saratoga.

Cocktailsnkringle, Filoso, and First Call Bob complete the field.

Race 8 is a second-level allowance sprint scheduled for six furlongs on the turf, but one that could potentially be moved to the Tapeta track. Bosun and No Evidence meet for the third time, and very little has separated them in their first two meetings.

On July 11, at Saratoga, No Evidence, trained by Miguel Clement, defeated Bosun, trained by Joe Sharp, by a half-length in a first-level allowance. Bosun came back to clear that allowance condition Aug. 9, and No Evidence and Bosun were separated by a neck while in the photo with winner Spiced Up on Sept. 4 at Saratoga.

Six furlongs is a distance at which neither No Evidence or Bosun has won.

The last time Final Verdict raced at six furlongs was at Aqueduct in April, when he finished second to John the Beer Man, who came back to run third in the Grade 1 Jaipur and win the Grade 2 Troy.

Flat to Da Mat, trained by Mike Maker, makes his first start since he won a first-level allowance going six furlongs on turf at Aqueduct in April. Attfield won the Central Park Stakes for 2-year-olds going long at Aqueduct last November and is winless in four starts since.

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