Verstappen heads quartet from Elkhorn in Man o' War Stakes
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ELMONT, N.Y. – Led by upset winner Verstappen, four of the top six finishers from the Grade 2 Elkhorn on April 22 at Keeneland will meet again in Saturday’s Grade 1, $600,000 Man o’ War Stakes at Belmont Park.
Verstappen, trained by Brendan Walsh, beat Red Knight by a head in the Elkhorn, run at 1 1/2 miles. Channel Maker, the turf champion of 2020, finished fourth, while Howe Street, the 2-1 Elkhorn favorite, ran sixth.
Those four make up half the field for the Man o’ War, which also drew the Godolphin-owned, Charlie Appleby-trained Warren Point. Warren Point is coming off a runner-up finish in the The Amir Trophy Stakes at Qatar in February.
Frankie Dettori, fresh off his 2000 Guineas win at Newmarket aboard Chaldean, rides Warren Point. Dettori, who has announced that this is his last season riding, hasn’t won a race at Belmont since he guided Fantastic Light to victory in the 2001 Breeders’ Cup Turf. He has had only 10 mounts at Belmont since then, including two here last summer when he finished second in the Belmont Derby aboard Nations Pride and second in the Belmont Oaks on With The Moonlight. Dettori came to Aqueduct last September and rode Nations Pride to victory in the Jockey Club Derby.
Solider Rising, third in last year’s Grade 1 Sword Dancer at Saratoga, makes his seasonal debut in the Man o’ War. Also entered were Strong Tide and Value Engineering.
The Man o’ War is carded as race 5.
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