Stakes winners Gunite and Wit likely to face talented upstarts in Champagne
ELMONT, N.Y. – Stakes winners Gunite and Wit are expected to take on flashy debut winners Jack Christopher and My Prankster in Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Champagne, a Win and You’re In race for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar on Nov. 5.
Gunite, trained by Steve Asmussen, won the Grade 1 Hopeful, defeating Wit by 5 3/4 lengths. Wit, who won the Grade 3 Sanford by eight lengths on July 17, stumbled at the start of the Hopeful but made a sustained bid, finishing three lengths clear of the remainder of the field in second.
Wit is trained by Todd Pletcher, who also trains My Prankster, a 10-length debut winner at Saratoga on Aug. 21 going 6 1/2 furlongs.
Jack Christopher, a son of Munnings, won his maiden by 8 3/4 lengths on Aug. 28. Both My Prankster and Jack Christopher earned a 92 Beyer Speed Figure.
Also expected for the Champagne is Kavod, second in the Tremont at Belmont on June 4 but well beaten in the Sanford and then on turf in the With Anticipation.
Affable Monarch and Don’t Wait Up are listed as possible.