Walsh may have East Avenue hit the gas in Forty Niner

Trainer Brendan Walsh believes East Avenue still possesses the speed that carried him to graded stakes victories at ages 2 and 3. Sunday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Forty Niner Stakes at Belmont Park might be the time for him to use it.

Breaking from the rail in an eight-horse field seemingly without much speed, East Avenue could be dangerous on the front-end provided he breaks well under Flavien Prat.

In his last start going a one-turn mile, the Grade 3 Ack Ack at Churchill Downs, East Avenue raced in fifth position, as there was plenty of early speed in the race. He made a run into second at the top of the lane and fought on until midstretch, but he was ultimately beaten 3 1/2 lengths by Bishops Bay, who was a head better than Coal Battle.

“He just didn’t break super fast for one reason or the other. We didn’t place too much emphasis on [speed]. There was plenty of speed in the race anyway,” Walsh said. “But he worked his way into the race nice, ran a good race, wasn’t beaten very far. You would think he’d be dangerous in that spot. The [rail] draw wasn’t great, but we’ll see. There’s not a ton of speed around him.”

The question is, does East Avenue still have the speed that carried him to a Grade 1 victory in the 2024 Breeders’ Futurity and the 2025 Grade 3 Matt Winn?

“I think he does, I just don’t think we placed too much emphasis on it the last time,” Walsh said. “Maybe a little more on Sunday.”

Gate to Wire won the Swale Stakes as a 3-year-old in Febraury 2025 but didn’t win again until Oct. 4 at Belmont when he captured a second-level allowance victory by a head going 6 1/2 furlongs. It was a good bounce-back effort after a fourth-place finish in the same condition at Saratoga, which followed a five-month layoff owing to a pair of veterinarian scratches.

“We overthought the race at Saratoga a little bit,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “It looked like on paper there was going to be a really hot pace. We wanted to ease back off of that and make a run. They didn’t go quite as fast as we were expecting. It didn’t unfold the way we were thinking it was going to.”

After Gate to Wire’s win at 6 1/2 furlongs. Pletcher had the option of cutting him back to six furlongs in Sunday’s Bold Ruler or try the mile. Pletcher noted that his best race came in the seven-furlong Swale, and he felt the added distance would better suit Gate to Wire.

In his lone try at a mile, Gate to Wire finished fourth in the Pat Day Mile, a race run over a sloppy track. Prat rode Gate to Wire that day and told Pletcher the horse “didn’t relish the going.”

Pentathlon enters the Forty Niner off a three-length allowance win going 1 1/16 miles around one turn at Belmont, a race in which he sat a perfect, ground-saving trip in third behind dueling leaders before tipping three wide in the stretch under Paco Lopez.

The late-running Crazy Mason is seeking to end a 10-race losing streak dating back to April 2025, when he capped a three-race winning streak taking the Grade 2 Carter at Aqueduct. Last out, he fell a nose short to T Kraft in the Grade 3 Vosburgh, coming with his typical rally despite a modest pace. His late kick does seem more effective at distances shorter than a mile.

Bendoog, Ignite the Light, and Warp Nine complete the field.

The Forty Niner goes as race 9 on an 11-race card that starts at 11:30 a.m. and includes the Grade 3 Bold Ruler and three listed stakes.