ELMONT, N.Y. – The connections and supporters of Flintshire can lament that Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic likely will be run over soft turf. They can fret about the seeming lack of pace in the 1 1/2-mile event.
The Grade 3 Pilgrim at Belmont Park on Saturday is not an easy race to nail down. None of the entrants in the 1 1/16-mile turf race for 2-year-olds has won more than a single race, and the wet forecast is likely to result in less-than-firm conditions.
Oscar Performance will be favored off his visually impressive 10 1/4-length maiden turf victory at Saratoga, but the field contains several other nice maiden winners at the Spa and two runners who come out of the With Anticipation Stakes, which was won by Made You Look, a top contender for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.
ELMONT, N.Y. – After Forever Unbridled got beat with a troubled trip in the Grade 1 Odgen Phipps here in June, trainer Dallas Stewart said he would never again run her in a one-turn race.
But the allure of the Grade 1, $400,000 Beldame was too much to ignore, and thus Forever Unbridled is back at Belmont, ready to compete in the one-turn, 1 1/8-mile race as a potential stepping-stone to the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Santa Anita on Nov. 4.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Michelle Nevin already has one horse headed to the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint in By the Moon. On Saturday, Paulassilverlining will audition for a spot in that $1 million race when she runs in the Grade 2, $300,000 Gallant Bloom Handicap at Belmont Park.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Every time Klimt has raced, he has gone a little bit farther and raced a little bit faster. On Saturday, he’ll stretch out to 1 1/16 miles in the Grade 1, $300,000 FrontRunner Stakes at Santa Anita, and if the arrow continues to point upward, he will secure his position as the best 2-year-old in California, if not the country.
Yet while Klimt has shown no signs that racing two turns will be a hurdle, and his pedigree suggests he’ll benefit by the added distance, his trainer, Bob Baffert, is well aware that many can’t handle the transition.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Avenge progressed steadily through the summer to reach the winner’s circle of her first graded stakes in the $202,070 John C. Mabee Stakes at Del Mar on Sept. 4.
Much more is expected of the 4-year-old filly this fall. Avenge starts in her first Grade 1 race in Saturday’s $300,000 Rodeo Drive Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/4 miles on turf at Santa Anita. The race is part of the Breeders’ Cup Win and You’re In program, offering a fees-paid berth in the BC Filly and Mare Turf here on Nov. 5.
ARCADIA, Calif. – American Cleopatra will always be a focus of attention. The filly is a full sister to 2015 Triple Crown hero American Pharoah, and with that comes added scrutiny in each race.
American Cleopatra had a successful summer season at Del Mar, winning her debut and finishing second in the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante on Sept. 3. Saturday, American Cleopatra faces a new test – her first start around two turns – in the $300,000 Chandelier Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita.
The decision by trainer Arnaud Delacour and owner Richard Masson late Friday afternoon to skip the Grade 1 Vosburgh at Belmont Park on Saturday with A. P. Indian due to expected wet track conditions will make X Y Jet and Holy Boss the top two choices in the six-furlong sprint.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Last year, Wavell Avenue used a good second-place finish in the Grade 2 Gallant Bloom at Belmont Park as a springboard to a 10-1 upset in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.
On Saturday, she will again try to convince her connections to head to the Breeders’ Cup when she again runs in the Gallant Bloom Handicap at 6 1/2 furlongs.
ELMONT, N.Y. – X Y Jet, who recorded two dynamic stakes victories in the winter at Gulfstream and ran a terrific second in the Dubai Golden Shaheen, returns from an eight-month layoff in Saturday’s Grade 1, $350,000 Vosburgh at Belmont Park.
X Y Jet came out of the Golden Shaheen needing surgery to remove a chip in a knee. Prior to that, he won the Sunshine Millions Sprint and the Grade 3 Gulfstream Park Sprint in impressive, front-running fashion.
