War Story seeks repeat win in Brooklyn

ELMONT, N.Y. – Todd Pletcher will send out two runners and Chad Brown one when they face Bob Baffert in a 1 1/2-mile race Saturday at Belmont Park. It’s a story line for the Belmont Stakes but also for the Grade 2 Brooklyn earlier in the day.

The $400,000 Brooklyn, for older horses, is the ideal dress rehearsal for trainers and television crews for the Belmont Stakes. Race 5 on the 13-race card, it affords several of the Belmont’s trainers a chance to see how the track is playing at that distance – since it’s the only time the first turn will be used in a dirt race Saturday at Belmont Park prior to the Belmont Stakes – and gives cameramen an opportunity to shoot a race at that rarely run distance only hours before Justify tries to become the 13th Triple Crown winner.

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In the Brooklyn, Pletcher is represented by Hard Study and Outplay, Brown has Take Your Guns, and Baffert will run the popular veteran Hoppertunity. But the morning-line favorite is War Story, who won the Brooklyn last year in his only prior start at this track and at this distance.

War Story, trained by Jorge Navarro, most recently finished second in the Charles Town Classic, the same race he used as a springboard to success in last year’s Brooklyn. He starts from the outside stall in a field of nine and carries the co-high weight of 121 pounds. Javier Castellano, who rode him in last year’s Brooklyn, has the mount.

Hoppertunity, who also carries 121 pounds, is returning to the scene of the greatest triumph of his 31-race career. He won the 1 1/4-mile Jockey Club Gold Cup in October 2016, one of eight wins that have contributed to the 7-year-old’s $4.4 million bankroll.

Hoppertunity most recently finished fourth in the Grade 2 Alysheba Stakes at Churchill Downs going 1 1/16 miles, a distance far short of his optimum these days.

“Too short, speed-biased track,” Baffert said of the Alysheba. “He’s doing really well, he likes a mile and a half, and he runs real well at Belmont.”

Hard Study is Pletcher’s best chance. He has won five of his last six starts going back to April 2017, is 2 for 2 this year, and most recently won the local prep for the Brooklyn, the 11-furlong Flat Out on May 4.

“He won going a mile and three-quarters at Saratoga,” Pletcher said, referring to last year’s Birdstone. “This is right in his wheelhouse.”

Outplay, owned by Mike Repole, never has run farther than 1 1/8 miles, and his two starts this year were at seven furlongs, so he has the potential to be loose on the lead.

“We felt like this was an interesting race to give it a try,” Pletcher said.

Take Your Guns has won both of his starts this year – at a mile and 1 1/16 miles – since returning from a 10-month layoff. He is by Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Blame, so he should relish the extra distance.

Backsideofthemoon, Carlino, Giant Payday, and Mills round out the field.