Juveniles star in Champagne, Frizette; Mr Speaker returns
to turf in Hill Prince
With victories in three of the past four editions of the
Grade 1, $500,000
Champagne, and five overall, it’s tough to argue with trainer
Todd Pletcher’s rate of success in the preeminent race for two-year-olds at
Belmont Park. On Saturday, the trainer will attempt to enhance his average even
further when he sends Daredevil out against five other
promising juveniles in the one-mile race.
The Champagne and its sister race — the Grade 1, $500,000
Frizette
— are both “Win & You’re In” races for the Breeders’ Cup at Santa
Anita Park October 31-November 1, with the victors earning all-fees paid
berths into their corresponding Breeders’ Cup races.
In addition to the Champagne and Frizette, Saturday’s card also includes the Grade 3, $500,000
Hill Prince and $200,000
Temperence Hill
Invitational.
Having taken the 2010 and 2013 editions of the Champagne
with maiden winners Uncle Mo and Havana, respectively, Pletcher has no qualms
about following the same pattern with Daredevil, a 6 1/4-length winner first
time out over a muddy track on September 13 at Big Sandy.
“We’ve had success a couple of times running horses out of
a maiden race in the Champagne,” said Pletcher, who also won with
Shanghai Bobby (2012), Scat Daddy (2006) and Proud Accolade (2004). “It’s
always an advantage to maybe have another start or two under your belt when
you’re going into these races, but hopefully what he lacks in experience he’ll
make up for in talent.”
Javier Castellano will be aboard Daredevil, the 2-1 morning-line favorite,
and the pair will leave from post position 6.
Another colt coming off an eye-catching maiden victory is
‘ El Kabeir, who scored by 10 lengths second time out on August
30 at Saratoga. That came just 16 days after the Scat Daddy colt ran an even
third going five furlongs on August 14 in his first outing.
“We knew he could run, and we knew he had talent,” trainer John Terranova
said of El Kabeir’s maiden victory. “He ran a tremendous figure and it was visually impressive. It was coming back quick, but the
first race kind of put him in the right place. He got a great schooling in that
race. He’s a high-energy colt, and it focused him and pointed him in the right
direction. That’s why I ran him back so quick — he really came on the two weeks
after that first race.”
In the intervening six weeks, El Kabeir has continued to
progress, according to Terranova.
“He’s had three really nice breezes and done them all the
right way — real professional,” Terranova noted. “He’s in a beautiful rhythm down
here. We haven’t had a bad day or missed a day with him since he won. Everything
has gone so right for him. Hopefully we’ll have a few good days with him and a
good fall, and he’ll develop into a good racehorse.”
Irad Ortiz Jr. will be back aboard El Kabeir, who drew the
rail and is listed at 5-2 on the morning-line.
Challenging the impressive maiden winners are a pair of colts with stakes
victories already on their resumes —
I Spent It and New York-bred Upstart.
I Spent It broke his maiden at Belmont on July 2 for
trainer Tony Dutrow, and is 6-1 on the morning-line. The bay Super Saver colt, who won the
August 10 Sanford and finished second in the September 1 Hopeful at Saratoga, will be
ridden by Jose Lezcano from post position 3.
Upstart registered a 106 BRIS Speed rating in taking the restricted Funny Cide
on August 24 at Saratoga in his second start. Trained by Rick Violette, the Flatter ridgling
is listed at 7-2 on the morning line and drew post position 2 under Jose Ortiz.
Rounding out the field are The Truth or Else, who broke his
maiden by 2 1/2 lengths in his fourth start after being switched from turf to
dirt, and Holy Boss, a 10 1/4-length maiden winner at Churchill Downs first time
out for trainer Steve Asmussen.
Two races earlier, Cavorting and Condo Commando are set to square off in the
one-mile Frizette for two-year-old fillies.
Trained by Kiaran McLaughlin, Cavorting is two-for-two in her
young career. The bay Bernardini filly debuted in a six-furlong sprint on July 3 at Belmont
and blitzed three overmatched foes by 11 lengths, leading from start to finish.
She showed a new dimension in her next outing — the August 10 Adirondack at Saratoga
— when she sat off the pace and swept by the field
turning for home to post a decisive 1 3/4-length victory.
The runner-up from the Adirondack, Angela Renee, has since
come back to take the Chandelier at Santa Anita Park.
“(Angela Renee’s win) certainly flatters our form,” said McLaughlin, who
trains the 5-2 morning-line second choice Cavorting. “(Angela Renee) is by Bernardini and so is Cavorting; he’s
having a great year. Cavorting has been working very well, and all systems are
go. She’s a lovely filly.”
Cavorting drew the rail, and will be ridden by Irad Ortiz
Jr.
Like Cavorting, Condo Commando is undefeated through two
career starts, which she has won by a combined 25 lengths. The Rudy
Rodriguez trainee could have been nabbed for $75,000 out of her debut but there were no takers, and the
dark bay or brown filly trounced the field by 12 lengths. The daughter of Tiz Wonderful proved her maiden claiming
romp was no fluke in her next start, the August 31 Spinaway. Amid a downpour at
the Spa, Condo Commando sliced through the rain and splashed her way to a 13-length
win.
Condo Commando, the 2-1 favorite on the morning-line, will
be ridden by Joe Bravo from post 6.
The third-place finisher in the Adirondack, Wonder Gal,
will hope to turn the tables on Cavorting, and may have license to do so.
Trained by Leah Gyarmati, the Tiz Wonderful filly won her debut by 14 1/2 lengths in the Lynbrook Stakes on July 6 at Belmont, but things
didn’t go as smoothly in the Adirondack.
After tracking the pace along the inside, Wonder Gal loomed a threat entering the stretch but failed to find adequate room
to run. The top two were well clear by the time she was able to extricate herself, but
the dark bay miss ran on gamely and was gaining.
“The hole was opening and the hole was closing,” Gyarmati said. “She’s a big filly, so she’s not going to just shoot right through
there, and then she got slammed. When she got in the hole, (Vivian Da Bling)
came over on her and turned our filly sideways, and (Wonder Gal) hit the rail.
She got a little schooling.
“It makes you wonder how she would have run with a clean
trip. Those are two nice fillies that beat us, but it would have
been nice to have clear sailing and see how close we get. She’s such a big
filly; she needs that room, and you can’t really stop her and start her again.”
Cornelio Velasquez has the mount aboard Wonder Gal, 6-1 on
the morning-line, and the pair will leave from post 2.
Rounding out the field are Ring Knocker, who is still a
maiden after two starts; Feathered, a 9 3/4-length Spa maiden winner for Pletcher; Cayman Croc, who broke her maiden by 1
1/2 lengths
at Delaware Park; and Spinaway runner-up By the Moon.
One race following the Champagne, 10 turf runners will line up in the Hill
Prince at 1 1/8 miles.
Topping the field is Mr Speaker, winner of the Belmont Derby
Invitational on the turf in July who will be returning to his preferred surface
following a fifth-placing in the Travers at Saratoga on August 23.
On the grass, Mr Speaker has won three of seven starts,
also taking a maiden race at Belmont and the Dania Beach at Gulfstream
Park as a two-year-old. He has finished off-the-board in his two starts on the
dirt but did score in the Lexington at Keeneland over the spring in his lone
synthetic start.
“We’ve always known he is a grass horse, but we wanted to
take a shot at the Travers,” Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey said. “He had
trained good on the dirt, but it didn’t work out. He’ll definitely like being
back on the big track (at Belmont) and has been training good on the turf since
the Travers.”
Lezcano will ride Mr Speaker, the 5-2 morning-line
favorite, from post position 9.
Others of note in the Hill Prince are Ring
Weekend, last-out winner of the Saranac following a second in Saratoga’s Sir
Cat, both on turf; Tourist, who won the Sir Cat prior to a runner-up effort in
the Secretariat at Arlington; Saranac second Smooth Daddy; Secretariat
third-placer Sheldon; and three colts — Blacktype, Cabral and Sloane Avenue —
who will
be making their North American debuts in the Hill Prince.
Kicking off the stakes action on Saturday at Belmont will be the Temperence
Hill Invitational sending six runners — including Cary Street and Ever Rider,
the respective first and second in the Greenwood Cup — 1 5/8 miles over the
main track.
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