Trio of contenders streaking into Noble Damsel
The Noble Damsel, run at one mile, shares billing with the Grade 2, $500,000 Sands Point for 3-year-old fillies one race later on the 10-race card.
Tokyo Time, trained by Shug McGaughey, has won her last two starts, taking a first-level allowance race at Belmont in June and a second-level allowance race at Saratoga in totally different fashion.
At Belmont, racing seven furlongs, Tokyo Time rallied from well off the pace to win going away in a race that included a spill in deep stretch. At Saratoga, going 1 1/16 miles around two-turns, Tokyo Time went gate to wire.
“She ran great in both of them,” McGaughey said. “[At Belmont], horses were going everywhere. She got up the last part of it, didn’t look like she was going to get there, and she came flying at the end.”
At Saratoga, McGaughey said jockey Javier Castellano “said she broke good. He didn’t want to take her race away from her. That’s all.”
Castellano will be back aboard Tokyo Time from post 5 Saturday.
Trainer Christophe Clement, a four-time winner of this race, sends out Love Train, who went 2 for 2 at Belmont, and Annecdote, a five-time winner in Europe who makes her U.S. debut in this spot.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 6 Anecdote. Trainer Christophe Clement is 5 for 16 with a $4.72 ROI over the past five years with foreign shippers new to his barn in turf routes at Belmont. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
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Clement said the Noble Damsel is a step up in class for both fillies, but he feels both deserve a chance in a race like this.
Of Annecdote, Clement said, “She’s trained well, looks good. It’s a bit ambitious, but let’s go.”
Devilish Love has won all three of her starts this year, all for Tony Dutrow.
Key contenders
Tokyo Time (Last 3 Beyers: 90-85-83)
* A steadily improving filly, she has won her last two starts, including a second-level allowance win at Saratoga, out of which the filly who finished second, Keening, came back to win on closing day at Saratoga.
* She came within a neck of winning the Grade 3 Herecomesthebride at Gulfstream as a 3-year-old.
Love Train (Last 3 Beyers: 87-85-63)
* She is 2 for 2 since joining trainer Clement’s stable, with both wins coming on turf at Belmont Park.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: In last three years, Clement is just 4 for 23 in graded turf stakes with horses returning from a 61- to 180-day layoff.
Baffle Me (Last 3 Beyers: 90-86-81)
* She is 3 for 5 over Belmont’s turf courses, including wins in two restricted stakes going seven furlongs here last fall.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 2 Alaura Michele. Trainer Todd Pletcher is 8 for 68 with a $1.18 ROI over the past five years in graded stakes turf routes on the NYRA circuit (though he did win this race last year with Peace Preserver at odds of 16-1). Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 8 Julie's Love. Trainer Graham Motion is 3 for 7 with a $9.17 ROI over the past year in graded stakes turf routes following a layoff of between 61 and 180 days. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan