The regally-bred Integration, who easily transitioned from a belated debut success in August to Grade 3 winner four weeks later when taking the Virginia Derby (G3) over the previously unbeaten favorite Program Trading, will look to maintain his own undefeated streak Saturday in the $250,000 Hill Prince (G2) at Aqueduct.
A son of Quality Road and the Grade 1-winning mare Harmonize, Integration turned in a mild upset over Saratoga Derby (G1) winner Program Trading by 1 1/4 lengths in the nine-furlong test at Colonial Downs. The form was further franked when third-place finisher Runaway Storm upset the Bryan Station (G3) at Keeneland last month as a 20-1 chance.
“It’s not my style to run a maiden winner back in a stake, but it looked like the time to take a chance and it worked out,” trainer Shug McGaughey said.
Integration figures to be a solid favorite, but Chad Brown, the trainer of Program Trading, will look to get a bit of revenge on that colt with a trio of contenders, two of which are stakes newcomers.
Faraday shortens up to nine furlongs after narrowly winning two longer races, a 1 3/8-mile maiden at Saratoga by a neck and a 1 5/16-mile allowance at Kentucky Downs by a nose. I’m Very Busy, Grade 2-placed last season, exits a dominating allowance win last month over a mile.
Equitize, meanwhile, hasn’t run since scoring a debut win at Tampa Bay Downs in mid-March. He is a son of Kingman and out of a Group 2-winning half-sister to Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (G1) scorer Waldgeist.
Among the others with notable stakes experience, Freedom Trail owns a solid 3-2-1-0 record over the Aqueduct, though he is winless in six starts dating back to his victory in the Awad S. more than a year ago.
Later in the card, Nothing Better defends his title in the $150,000 Aqueduct Turf Sprint Championship. Division mainstays Thin White Duke, Dancing Buck, Our Shot, Wit, Alogon, Witty, and Fore Harp also figure prominently in the six-furlong dash.
