Prince of Monaco returns in loaded, 11-horse Woody Stephens

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The Belmont Stakes isn’t the only Grade 1 for 3-year-olds on Saturday at Saratoga with a very talented and well-matched field. The $500,000 Woody Stephens has lured a pair of Grade 1 winners, a Grade 2 winner, and the runner-up from last month’s Grade 2 Pat Day Mile, a race which produced the winner of the Preakness two weeks ago.

A field of 12 was entered in the Woody Stephens but trainer Doug O’Neill said he will be forced to scratch Vlahos, the third-place finisher in the Pat Day Mile, who came down with a temperature upon arriving on the grounds earlier this week.

Trainer Bob Baffert won the seven-furlong Woody Stephens last year with Arabian Lion. On Saturday, he’ll send out likely favorite Prince of Monaco for his much-anticipated 3-year-old debut along with Santa Anita Derby runner-up Imagination, who turns back to a sprint off a disappointing seventh-place finish behind Seize the Grey in the Preakness.

Prince of Monaco was perfect in three starts around one turn at 2, capturing the Grade 3 Best Pal and Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity before suffering his lone defeat when fifth after steadying several times during the early stages of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Prince of Monaco, a son of Speightstown, has been idle ever since but has trained forwardly for his return.

“He’s doing well, there’s a lot of quality to him, and I really think he’s better at one turn, at this point,” Baffert said.

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“Once we realized Prince of Monaco was not going to be a Triple Crown type horse, we let him come along at a slower rate. He’s been in light training and then we started cranking him back up for the summer activities.”

Imagination won the Grade 2 San Felipe as a prelude to his second-place finish in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby, where he was beaten a head by Stronghold as the even-money favorite. He never fired when taken back off the pace of Seize the Gray in the Preakness, fading to finish 15 1/2 lengths back.

“We tried to get him to rate off that horse and he really didn’t rate very well,” Baffert admitted. “I was thinking about the Belmont for like a minute. Then I thought I’m going to back him up a bit. I think he’s a tweener.

“He came out of the race really well. This might be too short. We’ll see what he does.”

Nash, who finished second in the Pat Day Mile, has yet to finish off the board in seven starts. He earned his way into the Pat Day with an easy victory in the Hot Springs Stakes at Oaklawn Park on March 23. The Woody Stephens will mark his first try at seven furlongs.

“He’s the type of horse who the more we’ve done with him, the better he’s gotten,” said trainer Brad Cox. “And that’s what’s given me confidence to try him here in a Grade 1. He laid closer to the pace than I thought in the Pat Day, and going from a mile to seven-eighths is an angle that sometimes works.”

Nutella Fella is the second Grade 1 winner in the field along with Prince of Monaco, although he comes into the race idle since winning the seven-furlong Hopeful here nine months earlier.

Book’em Danno has been away since finishing second, beaten just a head by Kentucky Derby third-place finisher Forever Young in the Grade 3 Saudi Derby at a mile on Feb. 24. A three-time stakes winner, Book’em Danno has had only two published works since April 28.

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Trainer Steve Asmussen will seek to win his fourth Woody Stephens when sending out four-time stakes winner Valentine Candy, who chased and ran down the speedy Frost Free to register a 1 1/2-length victory in the six-furlong Bachelor at Oaklawn on April 27 in his most recent outing.

Frost Free bounced back off the setback to register a popular gate-to-wire, 1 1/2-length victory in the Grade 3 Chick Lang at Pimlico and should assure a lively pace in the Woody Stephens.

The remainder of the field includes Bay Shore winner Reasoned Analysis, Barksdale, Maximus Meridius, and Be You.

– additional reporting by David Grening

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