Private Zone, Marking square off in loaded Belmont Sprint Championship
ELMONT, N.Y. – How strong is the field for Saturday’s $400,000 Belmont Sprint Championship? Just ask trainer Kiaran McLaughlin, who summed up the quality of the lineup for the Grade 3 dash in one sentence: “Wow, did it come up tough and fast!”
McLaughlin will send out his Grade 1-placed Marking against eight rivals in the seven-furlong Belmont Sprint, including defending champion Private Zone and Metropolitan Handicap runner-up Anchor Down.
Four-time Grade 1 winner Private Zone makes his much-anticipated 2016 debut in the Sprint Championship, a race he won convincingly against much easier competition a year ago for trainer Jorge Navarro. Private Zone already had three starts in 2015 under his belt prior to that outing. He’ll try to defend his title having been idle since his fifth-place finish in the Grade 1 Cigar Mile on Nov. 28 after missing his originally scheduled return in the six-furlong True North four weeks ago.
“We’d have loved to have gotten the six furlongs into him first, but it is what it is,” trainer Brian Lynch said of Private Zone, who joined his stable following his second-place finish in the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Sprint. “It’s always tough to go seven-eighths off the bench, particularly against as outstanding a field as this, but he’s got a big heart and all the class in the world, and we’re counting on that to carry him through. The main goal is to get him back to the Breeders’ Cup, and we’re really looking forward to finally getting him started back on Saturday.”
Marking finished fourth in the Met Mile, 16 lengths behind his winning stablemate, Frosted, but only two lengths behind runner-up Anchor Down. The outing was his first since finishing fourth in the Group 2 Godolphin Mile in March at Meydan.
“It’s a little tough to evaluate his effort in the Met Mile the way Frosted freaked that day, but overall I thought he ran very well,” said McLaughlin. “He’s been a little disappointing for us, but this is where he needs to be. I think seven furlongs could hit him right between the eyes.”
Anchor Down is in the best form of his career. Although no match for the winner, he turned in a game effort in the Met Mile after bobbling at the break and prompting the early pace. In his previous start, Anchor Down won the Grade 3 Westchester by 6 3/4 lengths.
Joking benefited from Private Zone’s absence to win the True North, registering his third victory in a row and the first graded stakes triumph for both himself and owner-trainer Charlton Baker.
KEY CONTENDERS
Private Zone, by Macho Uno
Last 3 Beyers: 98-106-105
◗ Lynch is looking for his speedster to be off the lead in the Sprint. “It should be a cracking pace early,” said Lynch. “I would like to see him sit off the leaders and then engage himself at the top of the lane.”
Marking, by Bernardini
Last 3 Beyers: 95-96-98
◗ McLaughlin is pleased with his outside draw. “He’s never gotten over his gate issues,” McLaughlin said. “He still kind of hops the first step out, but at least he won’t have to stand as long, and this way we can try to let all the speed inside of us go and just sit out there.”
Anchor Down, by Tapit
Last 3 Beyers: 98-105-96
◗ Finished fourth of six as a 3-5 favorite the last time he broke from the rail in a sprint, going seven-eighths under allowance conditions last summer at Saratoga.
Victory Ride
The Grade 3 Victory Ride for 3-year-old fillies did not come up nearly as strong as the Belmont Spring Championship. Lost Raven is the only member of the nine-horse field with a graded stakes win, having come from behind for a three-quarter-length triumph over One True Kiss in the Grade 3 Miss Preakness at Pimlico on May 20.
Those two will hook up again Saturday in a race that kicks off an all-stakes pick six offering a guaranteed pool of $300,000.
Lost Raven showed a new dimension by rallying from far back in the six-furlong Miss Preakness. She’ll likely use similar tactics in the 6 1/2-furlong Victory Ride, which features plenty of speed, including West Coast invader Coppa, who won both of her starts by 3 1/4 lengths. She figures to be tested early by Appealing Maggie, Behrnik’s Bank, and the New York-bred stakes winner Flatterywillgetyou.