Speaker's Corner brings prodigious talent to Discovery Stakes

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The Pennsylvania Derby may have been too much too soon for Speaker’s Corner, who in his stakes debut and first start around two turns finished a well-beaten sixth behind Hot Rod Charlie in that Grade 1 race at Parx.

After bouncing back with a fast-figure allowance win at Belmont Park, Speaker’s Corner returns to stakes company in Saturday’s $150,000 Discovery Stakes for 3-year-olds at Aqueduct.

Trainer Bill Mott opted to run Speaker’s Corner in the 1 1/8-mile Discovery over the Grade 1 Cigar Mile in part to learn if the horse will be effective around two turns. In the fall of 2020, Speaker’s Corner won a seven-furlong maiden race at Belmont that proved to be quite productive, producing, among others, stakes winners Greatest Honour and Caddo River.

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Speaker’s Corner was sidelined due to an ankle issue, and came off the bench to win a fast-figure first-level allowance at Saratoga and was sent off the 7-2 second choice in the Pennsylvania Derby. He was stuck down inside under Jose Ortiz, and was done midway down the backside.

In a second-level allowance on Oct. 29 at Belmont, Mott equipped Speaker’s Corner with blinkers for the first time. After scrimmaging on the lead with First Constitution for six furlongs, Speaker’s Corner pulled away to win by 6 3/4 lengths, earning a gaudy 109 Beyer Speed Figure.

“When her ran at Parx, he was on the inside and Jose made the comment he was sort of sucking back away from horses a little bit, so we put them on to see if he’d be more forward,” Mott said of adding blinkers. “He’s plenty aggressive training, but that doesn’t mean they can’t get distracted in tight quarters.”

Junior Alvarado, aboard for two of this colt’s three wins, has the call from post 3.

Miles D finished fourth in the October 2020 maiden race at Belmont won by Speaker’s Corner. Miles D was off eight months before winning a maiden race at Belmont in June followed by a runner-up finish in the Curlin Stakes and a third behind Essential Quality in the Travers, both at Saratoga. Miles D won an allowance at 1-5 after being stuck down inside early and rallying five wide in the lane.

“He didn’t like being inside with the dirt,” trainer Chad Brown said. “Once he got him out in the clear he came again, and he didn’t win by much but he showed me a lot. He could have just packed it in.”

Trainer Todd Pletcher has won the Discovery six times. Saturday, he’ll send out the uncoupled duo of Bourbonic and Vindictive. Bourbonic is 3 for 3 at Aqueduct, including a memorable 72-1 upset in April’s Grade 2 Wood Memorial. Vindictive is 2 for 2 at 1 1/8 miles and is coming off a fifth-place finish at 3-5 in a second-level allowance going 1 1/16-miles around one turn at Belmont on Oct. 2.

“He’s just a two-turn horse,” Pletcher said. “His races around one turn were not what we’re used to seeing from him in his Saratoga races or his training.

Manor House and Ridin With Biden complete the field. The Discovery goes as race 8 on a 10-race card that begins at 11:50 a.m.