Pletcher, Brown each have two for Pilgrim Stakes

With each looking to earn a trip to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, 10 2-year-olds will clash Saturday in the Grade 3, $200,000 Pilgrim Stakes.

Scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on the inner turf, the 37th running of the Pilgrim is the eighth of 11 races and the first leg of a $300,000-guaranteed late pick four. Post time is 4:51 p.m. Eastern.

Todd Pletcher and nemesis Chad Brown will each take two shots at the Pilgrim. Pletcher entered the With Anticipation Stakes winner, Azar, and the maiden Dissident, while Brown countered with morning-line favorite Eidmilaad and European import Ray’s The Bar.

Azar developed steadily through three starts over the summer, culminating in a maiden-winning victory in the Grade 2 With Anticipation over Next Shares, who still is a maiden and is back for another try in the Pilgrim.

Running a maiden in a stakes race “is not something we do often, but we felt like with the two-race experience and that he did everything except win the time before, [it was worth a shot],” said Pletcher. “He came out of it well. I thought it was a big effort for a maiden to win a stakes. He seems to have improved with each start, so I hope he continues on that pattern.”

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Dissident will add blinkers after finishing third as the favorite behind Eidmilaad at Saratoga.

Either or both of Brown’s runners, both first-time Lasix, could have a big say in the outcome.

Eidmilaad is a half-brother to the graded turf stakes winners Rutherienne and Ruthenia, and he was a professional-looking debut winner at the Spa.

In his July unveiling at Ascot, Ray’s The Bar beat a dozen rivals while toting 129 pounds on a straight course at seven furlongs. He sheds 11 pounds here and stretches out from the rail.

Forever in Love, purchased for $210,000 at the OBS open sale this year, was a geared-down winner over New York-breds first time out. Despite the dominating nature of that performance, Linda Rice will put blinkers on the Scat Daddy colt Saturday.

“I put blinkers on him because when I worked him on the turf course here [with older stablemate Adirondack Dancer], as soon as he got in front, he was ducking from the cones, and he was very green-acting,” Rice said. “I reviewed the video tape, and I thought this horse had breezed at the sales with blinkers, which he did, and I’ve trained him with blinkers, and he’s a little more focused. I really don’t care to put blinkers on a horse running long on the turf, per se, in his second start, but I think it might keep him directed a little better.”

Brass Compass, Highland Sky, Isotherm, and Pagan emerge from maiden victories to round out the field.