The Pizza Man hoping for faster pace in Stars and Stripes

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – It always was going to be hard for The Pizza Man to top the year he had in 2015, when he won four of six races, including the Arlington Million, and banked more than a million bucks, and his 2016 campaign has been slow in developing: One subpar start in February, some time at the farm, then a loss as the favorite in the Wise Dan Stakes last month at Churchill Downs.

But let’s not take The Pizza Man off the front of the menu just yet. Chew on his performance in the Wise Dan a little longer, and The Pizza Man’s race gains greater savor. He’s back at a 1 1/2-mile distance that he relishes Saturday in the Grade 3, $100,000 Stars and Stripes, and The Pizza Man not only can get the dough, he can put himself back among the upper crust of Arlington Million contenders again this summer.

The Stars and Stripes is one of four grass stakes on a nine-race card at Arlington, easily the best so far at this meet, and goes as race 6, the second of the stakes and the first leg of an all-stakes, 50-cent pick three and a 50-cent pick four that ends on an appealing turf allowance, race 9. The forecast is lovely, the turf unlikely to be any softer than “good.”

Five horses are cross-entered here and in the Arlington Handicap, and few firm decisions had been made as of Thursday. Pumpkin Rumble is likely for the Stars and Stripes, and one of Mike Maker’s pair of Roman Approval and Greengrassofyoming will run in this race, the other in the Arlington Handicap, but Maker couldn’t yet say who would go where. Quiet Force’s camp leans slightly toward the Handicap.

KEY CONTENDERS

The Pizza Man, by English Channel
Last 3 Beyers: 96-96-101

◗ Look at the race chart for the Wise Dan in DRF Formulator using the incremental pace setting, and you will see just how fast The Pizza Man came home to finish fourth. The 1 1/16-mile Wise Dan unfolded at a walking pace, and everyone had energy for the last three furlongs, leaving The Pizza Man, who was slow into stride and 10th early, in an impossible position. His third quarter-mile in 23.02 seconds around the turn was easily the race’s fastest, and he finished with a final five-sixteenths in an excellent 28.44.

◗ The Pizza Man won the Hollywood Turf Cup in November after a long, hard campaign and never really did get right over the winter in New Orleans. His blood work never came back perfect, said Rich Papiese of Midwest Thoroughbreds, and The Pizza Man ran at less than 100 percent when he was fifth at Gulfstream in February.

“He hasn’t tailed off,” Papiese said. “What people see on the surface isn’t really what it is. He hasn’t been this good in a long, long time.”

◗ With Florent Geroux riding at Belmont, Robby Albarado has the mount.

Roman Approval, by Roman Ruler
Last 3 Beyers: 94-87-88

◗ Missed by a neck to The Pizza Man in this race last year and could return to the front-running tactics that nearly won him the race. “I think he’s a little better going farther,” said trainer Maker. “He’s been a really hard-luck horse.”

Bullards Alley, by Flower Alley
Last 3 Beyers: 91-94-91

◗ Won the Grade 3 Louisville over 1 1/2 miles last out at Churchill and is a real stayer by North American standards who will get the trip. “We couldn’t ask our horse to be doing any better,” said trainer Tim Glyshaw.