6/1/15
Last updated: 5/31/15 7:41 PM
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War Dancer just missed in
his last one against Grade 1 rivals
(NYRA/Adam Coglianese Photography) |
Grade 2 victor War Dancer (War Front) will look to add a first Grade 1 victory to his resume when he
takes on an extremely competitive and deep field of horses aged four and older
in the $1 million Manhattan S. (G1) as part of Saturday’s Belmont Stakes Racing
Festival.
Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott expects he is up to the task after the way he performed in his last effort.
The five-year-old dark bay dug
in defiantly before getting nailed at the wire to lose by a short neck to fellow
Manhattan competitor Twilight Eclipse (Purim) in the May 9 Man o’ War S. (G1) at
Belmont Park.
“His last race was a good effort. He ran a winning race but
just got beat,” Mott said on Sunday morning, one day after War Front turned in a
four-furlong maintenance move in :49 2/5 over Belmont’s fast dirt training
track. “Looking at his race from last time is the best indicator that I’ve got
that he’s going to run well.”
The Manhattan, which dates back to 1867 and will be
contested for the 143rd time, is run at 1 1/4 miles over the inner turf course,
which is also the venue for the 1 3/8-mile Man o’ War. On May 23, War Dancer put
in an impressive five-furlong breeze over the surface in 1:00 2/5 for the fourth
fastest time of 14 horses who traveled the same distance.
“We’re happy with him. He’s coming into the race very
well,” said Mott, who gave the return call to Jose Lezcano.
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A field of 12, including Grade 1 winners Big Blue Kitten (Kitten’s Joy), Finnegans Wake
(Powerscourt) and Jack Milton (War Front) along with Twilight Eclipse, is expected to be
drawn on Wednesday.
What makes the race doubly tough is the possible presence of
multiple Group 1-winning Chilean-bred Il Campione (Scat Daddy), who would be making his first start
both outside his native
country and for trainer Chad Brown, and the entrance of Magic Artist (Iffraaj),
whose entire career efforts have been in Germany and Italy.
“We’ll come back and give him another try, but we’re going
to have some new shooters and it’s a very tough race,” Mott admitted.
War Dancer, who has four wins in 19 starts, was victorious
in the Louisville H. (G3) at 1 1/2 miles last year and the Virginia Derby (G2) in 2013.
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