Za Approval will need his 'A' game in Poker

ELMONT, N.Y. – With Wise Dan on the shelf for the near future – if not longer – the mile turf division could be in search for a new leader. Za Approval, twice second to Wise Dan last fall, would be a candidate for that role, but he will have to improve upon what he has done so far this year.

Za Approval could take a step towards doing that when he heads a field of six expected to run in Monday’s Grade 3, $300,000 Poker Stakes at Belmont Park. With management’s decision to move the Metropolitan and Ogden Phipps handicaps – both Grade 1 events – from this card to Belmont Stakes Day, the Poker becomes the feature on a 10-race Memorial Day card. Also on the program are the $200,000 Pennine Ridge for 3-year-old males on turf and the $100,000 Jersey Girl Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on dirt.

Seven were initially entered for the Poker, but Bio Pro was expected to scratch after running in an allowance race here Saturday, according to trainer Bill Mott.

Za Approval was among the top three milers in 2013, winning a trio of Grade 3 stakes while finishing second in a trio of Grade 1 races, including a three-quarter-length loss to Wise Dan, the two-time Horse of the Year, in the Breeders’ Cup Mile.

In two starts this year, however, Za Approval ran fourth in the Grade 1 Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita and fourth to Wise Dan in the Maker’s 46 Mile at Keeneland on April 11.

“He ran very well in California; was not quite fit. I thought it was a very good race,” said Christophe Clement, who trains Za Approval for Charlotte Weber’s Live Oak Plantation. “He ran disappointing in Kentucky; not a great ride, but the horse ran flat. He came here, he’s been training well, so there’s no reason not to go.”

The only reason not to go would be if the ground is less than firm. It was yielding on Saturday, but dry conditions were expected Sunday and Monday.

“He only runs if the ground is firm.I will not run otherwise,” Clement said.

Jack Milton has run well at distances from a mile to 1 1/4 miles. He is coming off a sharp three-length victory in a second-level allowance race going a mile at Churchill Downs on May 1 in which he equaled his career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 94.

In his allowance win, Jack Milton may have benefited from a strong early pace. He figures to get that once again here with Peace and Justice and Plainview in the field. Peace and Justice won two races at Santa Anita, including an optional claimer when he blasted off to a 10-length lead and held on to win by a head. He is coming off a fifth-place finish as the favorite in the Thunder Road Stakes at Santa Anita on April 6.

Plainview was second to Za Approval in the Grade 3 Knickerbocker over this course last October. He has not run since finishing eighth in the Claiming Crown Emerald in December.

Big Screen, a winner of the Who’s to Pay Stakes going a mile on this course last September, and Sinatra, a second-level allowance winner at Aqueduct on April 23, complete the field.