Perfect Sting, Forbidden Apple at mercy of weather
ELMONT, N.Y. – An ominous forecast that includes potentially significant rain from a tropical storm could play havoc with Friday’s Fourth of July card at Belmont Park, which has six of 10 races scheduled for the turf including a pair of overnight stakes.
Solid, competitive fields were drawn for both the $150,000 Forbidden Apple and the $100,000 Perfect Sting for males and females, respectively. Both races are carded at one mile for the Widener turf course. First post Friday is 3 p.m. Eastern.
Less-than-firm ground would likely prompt trainer Christophe Clement to scratch Za Approval from the Forbidden Apple. Za Approval, a three-time graded stakes winner in 2013 and runner-up to Horse of the Year Wise Dan in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, is 0 for 3 this year. He is coming off a third-place finish in the Poker at Belmont here on May 26.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 4 Za Approval. Trainer Christophe Clement and jockey Joel Rosario have combined for five wins from 32 starts (16 percent) for only a $0.93 ROI in the past two years in Belmont turf routes with purses of at least $60,000.Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
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“I actually thought he ran very well the other day,” said Clement, who also trained Forbidden Apple, a four-time graded stakes winner at Belmont for whom this race is named. “I didn’t like the trip that we had – he moved very early in the race into a very fast pace.”
Two interesting horses in the field are Sayaad and Kharafa. Sayaad, a son of Street Sense owned by Shadwell Stable, has not been out since winning an optional claimer here last October, owing to foot issues, according to trainer Kiaran McLaughlin.
“So thankful that the Shadwell people have been patient,” said McLaughlin, who chose to bring Sayaad back in this race over a similar spot at Monmouth. “Happy to get him back to the races; hoping he has a nice summer and fall. His last two races were good.”
Sayaad shows a steady string of works on turf and dirt leading up to this.
“He’s fit,” McLaughlin said. “Training great. Just weird foot issues that kept getting us.”
McLaughlin’s biggest concern is that Sayaad, who breaks from the outside, could get hooked into a pace duel with Plainview, who breaks from the rail.
Kharafa, a 5-year-old gelding trained by Tim Hills, is coming off a victory in Kingston Stakes on May 31 against New York-breds. He defeated open company in the Three Coins Up Stakes at Aqueduct last November and has run well on good and yielding ground.
“He does not hit the ground hard and I think horses like that handle soft going,” Hills said. “He skips over it.”
Kharafa has recorded five of his seven career victories at Belmont, and has won four of his last five races with Javier Castellano in the irons. Castellano rides Kharafa, the 124-pound co-highweight, on Friday.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 6 Kharafa. Trainer Tim Hills is 2 for 9 with a $3.55 ROI over the past five years with Belmont turf routers that won their last start.Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
The Forbidden Apple goes as race 7. Two races later, Waterway Run and Orion Moon, the one-two finishers from the Grade 3 Beaugay on May 3, top a field of 10 entered in the Perfect Sting, named for the champion turf female of 2000.
Following her neck victory over Orion Moon in the Beaugay, Waterway Run finished sixth, beaten 2 1/2 lengths by Coffee Clique in the Grade 1 Just a Game.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 1 La Verdad. Trainer Linda Rice is 4 for 11 with a $6.21 ROI over the past five years with horses going from route to sprint on dirt after a winning effort.Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
“I thought she ran well,” trainer Chad Brown said. “Might have been too tough a spot for her. This looked like a good race to step back in and get her back on form.”
Orion Moon, beaten a neck by Coffee Clique in a March allowance at Gulfstream, has not run since the Beaugay. Orion Moon will be in receipt of six pounds from Waterway Run after getting beat by her at level weights in the Beaugay.
“That’s a big shift,” said Clement, who trains Orion Moon. “She’s not an easy filly to train. I’m not sure we’ve got her quite as well as what she was for the Beaugay, but the only way to find out is to run her.”
Mah Jong Maddnes, winner of the Mt. Vernon for New York-breds on May 31, and Alaura Michele, a late-running third in the Intercontinental on June 8, are also contenders in this field.