Pletcher, Brown each have two in up-for-grabs Knickerbocker
ELMONT, N.Y. – No Word and En Wye Cee give trainer Todd Pletcher a strong one-two punch in a seemingly wide-open renewal of Sunday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Knickerbocker Stakes scheduled for 1 1/8 miles on turf at Belmont Park.
No Word, a 4-year-old son of Silent Name, is coming off a half-length loss to Tell Your Daddy in the Grade 2 Bernard Baruch Handicap at Saratoga. That race was run over a yielding course and scratched down to a field of four when En Wye Cee scratched late owing to the soft ground.
Tell Your Daddy won that race while able to dictate a slow pace under John Velazquez. No Word, who got shuffled back to last on the far turn, made a bid that came up just a bit short.
“There wasn’t much pace to run at,” Pletcher said.
The effort in the Bernard Baruch was an improvement off his eighth-place finish in an allowance race Aug. 6, which came off a 10-month layoff. However, in that race No Word was three to four wide down the backside and six to seven wide in the stretch. He was only beaten 4 1/2 lengths.
“The first start back was probably a better effort than it looked on paper, he didn’t have a very good trip that day,” Pletcher said.
En Wye Cee finished third in last year’s Knickerbocker. That race was run over yielding turf, and the son of Declaration of War came out of the race with an injury. That is why he was scratched out of the Bernard Baruch, when it rained an hour prior to the race. In his only race this year, En Wye Cee finished third behind L’Imperator in an allowance at Saratoga where he had a bit of trouble.
Pletcher is hoping any forecasted rain for Sunday stays away.
Trainer Chad Brown also sends out two runners in the Knickerbocker. L’Imperator, after beating En Wye Cee in that allowance off a year layoff, finished third in the Bernard Baruch, beaten 1 1/2 lengths.
“He needs a little bit more pace to run at,” Brown said. “He ran a really fast number in that allowance race, it might have been back a little soon for him and he might have reacted a little bit off of that. He seems to be training well. I like the distance for him.”
Brown also sends out Sacred Life, who finished second behind Breaking the Rules in a one-mile allowance on Aug. 29 at Saratoga. The nine furlongs could be stretching him.
Breaking the Rules finished fourth as the favorite in last year’s Knickerbocker. He’s had previous success at 1 1/8 miles and has two wins over Belmont’s turf course.
Trainer Tom Morley is enjoying a sensational Belmont fall meet with seven wins from 17 starters. One of those wins was supplied by Temple, who captured a second-level allowance here Sept. 16. That was his second start off a claim made here in June.
Corelli cuts back in distance following a sixth-place finish in the Group 1 Canadian International. Field Pass, who won the Baltimore-Washington Turf Cup two starts back, was cross-entered in Saturday’s Grade 1 Keeneland Turf Mile.