Well-traveled Tone Broke bound for Jockey Club Derby

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – On a rainy Monday morning in Saratoga, before he hoped to end the meet with a third Grade 1 victory, trainer Steve Asmussen was already looking forward to tackling one of the richest prizes of the Belmont Park fall meeting, which begins Friday.

Asmussen on Monday entered Tone Broke in Saturday’s inaugural running of the $1 million Jockey Club Derby, the last leg of NYRA’s Turf Trinity. The Jockey Club Derby is run at 1 1/2 miles and that is the distance at which Tone Broke won the Breeders’ Stakes at Woodbine on Aug. 17.

“For his only time on the turf being a win at a mile and a half speaks well,” Asmussen said hours before he was to run the trio of Shoplifted, Gozilla and Basin in the Grade 1 Hopeful on closing day at Saratoga. “His numbers are very competitive going into this field, but obviously he has not run against any of these horses.”

Tone Broke won two thirds of Canada’s Triple Crown, taking the Prince of Wales Stakes at 1 3/16 miles on dirt after finishing third in the Queen’s Plate. He has certainly racked up the frequent flier miles, having raced in Dubai, Maryland, and Canada this year.

Tone Broke worked five furlongs in 1:03.16 Sunday morning over the Oklahoma training track and shipped to Belmont on Monday.

John Velazquez will ride Tone Broke in the Jockey Club Derby, a Win and You’re In event for the Breeders’ Cup Turf on Nov. 2 at Santa Anita Park.

The Jockey Club Derby drew a field of nine, including Henley’s Joy, who won the Belmont Derby at odds of 20-1 on July 6, and A Thread of Blue, who won the Saratoga Derby at odds of 13-1 on Aug. 2.

Others entered include Current, Digital Age, Kadar, Pedro Cara, San Huberto, and Spanish Mission.