Rushing Fall, Got Stormy heading for showdown in Beaugay

A top-flight showdown between Grade 1 winners Rushing Fall and Got Stormy is set for Wednesday’s Grade 3, $100,000 Beaugay Stakes, the opening-day feature at Belmont Park.

Only six fillies and mares were entered in the Beaugay, scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on turf. It will go as race 9 on a 10-race card that starts at 1:15 p.m.

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No spectators will be permitted onsite at Belmont Park, which opens for a 25-day meet. The original opening day for Belmont was April 24, but that was before the coronavirus pandemic prompted the cancellation of the last 19 cards at Aqueduct and the first 24 at Belmont.

In a pre-coronavirus universe, the Beaugay would have been run on May 9 with a $200,000 purse. It is now the first of 40 stakes - all with reduced purses - on the only Wednesday card of the meet. Following the first week, racing will be conducted Thursday through Sunday through July 12.

Rushing Fall, a seven-time graded stakes winner, will be making her first start since she finished fourth in the Grade 1 First Lady at Keeneland last October. Prior to that, she won the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley at Keeneland and the Grade 1 Just a Game and finished second in the Grade 1 Diana.

Rushing Fall had been pointing to the Jenny Wiley Stakes at Keeneland when it was scheduled for April. That race has been rescheduled for July.

Rushing Fall, trained by Chad Brown, drew the rail and will be ridden by Javier Castellano. Brown will also send out the New York-bred millionaire Fifty Five, who will break from post 2 under Joel Rosario.

Got Stormy, a two-time Grade 1 stakes winner trained by Mark Casse, will be making her second start of the year in the Beaugay. In March, she was beaten a neck when second in the Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Mile against males at Santa Anita. Last year, Got Stormy beat males in the Grade 1 Fourstardave and finished second to Uni in the Breeders’ Cup Mile.

Tyler Gaffalione will be in from Kentucky to ride Got Stormy, who drew post 3.

Trainer Christophe Clement, a four-time Beaugay winner, entered Call Me Love, a two-time graded stakes winner in Italy when trained by Alessandro Botti.

Passing Out, a seven-length allowance winner at Tampa in April for Shug McGaughey, and Xenobia, who won the Grade 3 Athenia here last all, complete the field.