Turf or dirt, Clement will run City Man in Ashley T. Cole Stakes
ELMONT, N.Y. – A pair of New York-bred stakes, one for older males on turf, the other for 2-year-old fillies on dirt, highlight Friday’s nine-race Belmont Park card, one that could be impacted by weather.
The $125,000 Ashley T. Cole Stakes, a race scheduled for 1 1/8 miles on turf, drew only five runners for that surface and two more if the race is rained off to the main track. Rain is forecast to begin Thursday and last into Friday.
On turf, trainer Christophe Clement has two contenders in City Man and Therapist, who finished one-two, a nose apart, in the $150,000 West Point Handicap on Aug. 27 at Saratoga. Both horses came with strong late runs, taking advantage of a swift early pace. On paper, that same scenario does not seem likely Friday.
City Man does seem adaptable as he won the Gio Ponti Stakes at Aqueduct last November from a forward position.
Therapist is 5 for 12 over the Belmont turf and has overcome less than optimal pace scenarios in the past.
When it comes to surface, City Man is more versatile than his stablemate. City Man is proven on dirt having won the Funny Cide Stakes at Saratoga at 2 and finishing a solid second in the Albany at 3. Whatever surface Friday’s race is run over, Clement is planning to run City Man on dirt in the $300,000 Empire Classic here Oct. 30
“I always prefer turf because it’s a touch kinder for him,” Clement said. “I will run him even if it comes off. It’s a great luxury to have.”
Sanctuary City and Graded On a Curve, third and fourth, respectively, in the West Point, are back in the Cole.
On dirt, Three Jokers would likely provide the pace. He was a front-running winner of a second-level statebred allowance over a track labeled good here in July. Most recently, he finished second behind Sea Foam in the Evan Shipman Stakes, a two-turn, 1 1/8-mile race at Saratoga last month.
Tiergan, second to Three Jokers in a one-mile allowance race in the slop at Aqueduct in April, also is entered as a main track only. Tiergan has won two straight, including a second-level allowance going 1 1/8 miles at Saratoga, a race scheduled for turf, on Aug. 21.
The Cole is slated as the third race on a card that begins at 1 p.m.
Joseph A. Gimma Stakes
Classy Edition, a dominant 6 3/4-length winner in her debut on Sept. 5 at Saratoga, returns on relatively short rest when she takes on stakes winner November Rein in Friday’s $150,000 Joseph A. Gimma Stakes for New York-bred juvenile fillies going seven furlongs.
Classy Edition is a daughter of Classic Empire and is a half-brother to four-time New York-bred stakes winner Newly Minted. In the spring of 2019, Newly Minted came back one week after winning a maiden race to win a division of the New York Stallion Stakes. Later that year, she came back on two weeks’ rest to win an open-company allowance race by 7 3/4 lengths.
Todd Pletcher, trainer of Classy Edition, doesn’t ordinarily run maiden winners back on 19 days’ rest, but believes Classy Edition could handle the quick turnaround Friday. Irad Ortiz Jr. rides Classy Edition from post 4.
“The good thing about her debut is Irad pretty much wrapped up on her at the sixteenth pole, so I don’t think it was a particularly taxing effort for her,” Pletcher said. “It’s back in 19 days, but she’s done well, acted well.”
Classy Edition’s victory came over a good, sealed track. Circumstances could be similar Friday with rain in the forecast.
November Rein certainly has an edge in experience, having run three times including a maiden score and a victory in the Seeking the Ante Stakes going 6 1/2 furlongs. November Rein is by Street Boss out of the three-time stakes winner Ju Ju Eyeballs. She is trained by Kelly Breen for Ron Lombardi’s Mr Amore Stable.
November Rein was beaten in her career debut by Shesawildjoker, who won that day as the 2-1 favorite. She came back and finished eighth of nine in the Grade 2 Adirondack.
Velvet Sister won her maiden in a three-horse field here in June before finishing fourth in the Grade 3 Schuylerville and second to November Rein in the Seeking the Ante.
Adversity, a maiden winner in the slop on Sept. 6 at Saratoga for Mark Casse, and Our Tiny Dancer, a winner for maiden $25,000 claiming in the slop at Delaware Park on Sept. 9 for trainer Amira Chichakly, complete the field.