Zulu Kingdom well-positioned for bounceback in Kelso
?q=100)
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Chad Brown theorizes that some missed training caught up with Zulu Kingdom in the latter stages of last month’s Grade 3 Poker Stakes here, when he finished third as the 1-5 favorite. With an uninterrupted training schedule since that race, Brown is looking for Zulu Kingdom to make amends in Sunday’s Grade 3, $225,000 Kelso Stakes going one mile on turf at Saratoga.
Brown said Zulu Kingdom was dealing with a quarter crack after his first workout back following a front-running victory in the Grade 1 Maker’s Mark Mile in April at Keeneland, which kicked off his 4-year-old campaign. At the time, that was Zulu Kingdom’s seventh victory from nine career starts, with one of those defeats coming after he crossed the wire first and was disqualified for interference.
“He missed about a week of training, and it included two workouts,” Brown said. “He came back and worked twice right before the race, so I didn’t feel the missed training would affect him. But I think, in hindsight, the last 100 yards of the race, I think he felt that missed training. The horse has been on an uninterrupted schedule now. I’d expect him to bounce back.”
Though he won the Maker’s Mark on the lead and was on the pace in the Poker, Zulu Kingdom has run well from off the pace, including his Grade 1 victory in the 2025 American Turf. There does appear to be significant pace signed on for the Kelso, which is the stepping-stone to the Grade 1 Fourstardave here Aug. 8.
“I think he’s better with a target,” Brown said.
Brown also runs Cosmic Year, and though he also got beat as a heavy favorite in his last start, he is certainly in with a chance here. Cosmic Year, a Group 1-placed runner in Europe last year, was beaten a neck as the 1-2 favorite in the Cliff Hanger Stakes on May 30 at Monmouth. He ran into a little traffic at the top of the stretch and was late to change leads, but he was still gaining on Neat, who got through an opening on the inside.
“I ran him off a layoff maybe just a touch further than he wants to go. He hung just a little bit,” Brown said. “I think he’s custom-made for a two-turn mile in this country. You’d handicap him to move forward with a start under his belt now.”
Flavien Prat rides Zulu Kingdom from the rail, while Manny Franco is aboard Cosmic Year from post 9.
Bill Mott sent out Pass the Hat and Capitol Hill to run one-two, noses apart, in the Poker. Pass the Hat raced up close to Zulu Kingdom in the Poker, while Capitol Hill came from fourth in the five-horse field.
Cruise the Nile had a four-race winning streak snapped when he finished third as the 2-5 favorite in the Grade 3 Dinner Party going 1 1/8 miles at Laurel on Preakness Day. He is cutting back to a mile, a distance at which he is 2 for 2 on turf, including a victory over Burnham Square in a Gulfstream allowance. Burnham Square has come back to win three marathon stakes.
“I thought his Florida races were very competitive,” said Graham Motion, who trains Cruise the Nile. “He beat Ian Wilkes’s horse, who’s come back and looked like a superstar. He’s got to get back to that form and things are going to have to go his way.”
When Neat won the Cliff Hanger, it was his first victory since he captured the Grade 2 National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame Stakes here in summer 2024. He is back in this spot for Rob Atras.
There are plenty of front-running types entered in here, including Maycocks Bay, who opened up a seven-length advantage early and held on for a two-length score in the Grade 2 Eclipse Stakes run at 1 1/16 miles over Woodbine’s synthetic track.
Trainer Mark Casse runs Mi Bago, a front-running winner of the Kingston Stakes for New York-breds last month, and My Boy Prince, who set the pace and held on for second behind Notable Speech in the Woodbine Mile last September. Itsallcomintogetha is another front-running type.
Tiz Dashing also cuts back to a mile after running eighth in the Grade 1 Manhattan at 1 3/16 miles. He finished third behind Zulu Kingdom and Capitol Hill in last year’s Grade 3 Manila over this course.