Juveniles line up in Belmont dirt, turf preps for Breeders’
Cup
Despite winning the Tyro Stakes in July at Monmouth Park by
Now, She Digs Me returns to the races at Belmont Park on Sunday to run in the
“This horse has always done everything right, and he likes Monmouth,” said Asmussen’s assistant, Toby Sheets. “This is a logical progression. He breezed
The Grade 2 Nashua, run last year at the mile distance at Aqueduct, was
|
Asmussen holds a strong hand in the Nashua as he will send out both She Digs
Me and 5-2 second choice Seeker, a son of Hard Spun who broke his
maiden by 6 1/2 lengths in his second and most recent start on September 5 at
Saratoga.
Vexor defeated Seeker by 1 1/4 lengths when breaking
his maiden August 10 at Saratoga, but finished eighth, 42 3/4 lengths back, in the Grade 1 Hopeful, which was run on a sloppy
track. Trainer John Kimmel dismissed the Hopeful performance and expects a far
better effort in the Nashua from the son of Wildcat Heir.
“The horse hated the sloppy track in the Hopeful,” Kimmel said of Vexor,
12-1 on the morning line. “(Jockey) David Cohen said after the race that when he
came out to warm up, he was slipping and stumbling and didn’t even want to go
onto the track.”
Earlier on the card, in the filly counterpart to the Nashua, Georgie’s Angel
will attempt to regain her winning form when she takes on four other runners in the $100,000
Tempted.
After showing tremendous promise winning the Grade 3 Schuylerville on July 22
at Saratoga, Georgie’s Angel found the Grade 1 Spinaway a bit too
tough in her subsequent start as she finished fourth. Trainer Todd Pletcher sent
the daughter of Bellamy Road through a slow four-furlong work
in :52 3/5 on September 18 and then stepped it up on Monday in preparation for the
Tempted.
“It was designed as a slow work,” Pletcher said, “then she breezed back in
company Sunday and went in :48.22 and went well. I didn’t think she got a
wonderful trip in the Spinaway. She was kind of stuck down inside and didn’t
seem to fire her ‘A’ race. We hope to change her post position. We’d like to be
toward the outside.”
Georgie’s Angel, the 8-5 second choice on the morning line, drew post
position 4 for the Grade 3 Tempted, which previously was run as a one-mile race at
Aqueduct but cut back this year to six furlongs at Belmont. Pletcher said
he does not see Georgie’s Angel as a possible Breeders’ Cup entrant, but
rather is just hoping to get back on track.
“We’re just focused on the Temped and we’ll see how that goes,” he said.
“Hopefully, she runs so well we have to reconsider where we are. We’re
optimistic that at some point she might stretch out.”
Following the Nashua on Sunday are two Grade 3 turf events for juveniles, the
Pilgrim
and the
Miss Grillo,
each run at 1 1/16 miles. Entrants in both $100,000 races will put win streaks on the line, as Grade 2
With Anticipation victor State of Play squares off against six colts in the
Pilgrim and P. G. Johnson heroine Alaura Michele takes on nine other fillies in
the Miss Grillo.
State
of Play is undefeated thus far, stretching out successfully from a 5 1/2-furlong turf
maiden victory at Saratoga on July 27 to take the 1 1/16-mile With
Anticipation on September 1. The latter was a Breeders’ Cup Challenge race,
guaranteeing the son of War Front a spot in the gate for the Grade 1 Breeders’
Cup Juvenile Turf in November at Churchill Downs.
“He’s done great and everything has gone to plan,” trainer Graham Motion
said from his base
at Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland. “He’s a straightforward horse and is
pretty adaptable. He settled well last time for Ramon (Dominguez). We already
have our ticket to the Breeders’ Cup, and this race was the closest to our
home.”
Also exiting the With Anticipation is Captain Webb, who finished sixth as the
favorite in the field of nine.
“It was a very disappointing performance,” Pletcher said of
Captain Webb’s With Anticipation. “He kind of got stuck inside and shuffled back
in a paceless race, and he lacked room in the stretch to give his best effort.
We’re hoping for a better set-up and a better trip.”
A son of 2007 champion turf horse English Channel, whom Pletcher also
trained, Captain Webb broke his maiden on July 30 at Saratoga in a 1 1/16-mile
turf maiden race.
In the Miss Grillo, Alaura Michele will attempt to move forward off a 2
1/4-length victory in Saratoga’s P. G. Johnson to collect her first graded stakes
win. After running sixth in her career debut on dirt for trainer Greg Fox at
Churchill Downs, Alaura
Michele was transferred to the barn of Bill Mott. Sent out to a front-running 4
1/4-length victory going six furlongs on the turf at Belmont in her first start
for Mott, she stretched out to 1 1/16 miles and rated nicely to win the August
31 stakes.
“She rated better than I expected and she was good in behind horses,” Mott
noted. “She showed what I thought was a nice, explosive kick coming home.”
Sidelined briefly with a virus following the P. G. Johnson, the daughter of
Arch worked five furlongs at Saratoga on Wednesday, covering the distance in 1:00
3/5
in a move Mott called “very nice.”
Alaura Michele has been made the 2-1 morning-line favorite in the Miss Grillo
against the likes of Slip Along Band and Bourbonstreetgirl.
Undefeated in two starts thus far for trainer Michael Pino, Slip Along Band will ship in from Maryland for her
first graded stakes try. The daughter of Bowman’s Band broke her maiden over the
artificial surface at Presque Isle Downs on July 26, then took the one-mile
Junior Champion over the Monmouth Park turf on September 11.
Conditioner Trainer Gary Contessa will send out P. G. Johnson third Bourbonstreetgirl
as well as Salsa
Mambo, who broke her maiden going seven furlongs on the Belmont turf on
September 14.
“Bourbonstreetgirl had a rough trip and I think she’s better than you saw in
the P. G. Johnson,” Contessa said. “She’s training fantastic up to this race,
and really doing well. I’m very pleased with her and I’m really looking forward
to the Miss Grillo. I’d like to get enough points with her to make the Breeders’
Cup. That would be very important for us.”