Belmont Stakes Racing Festival Notes 5.25.18

by NYRA Press Office

• Noble Indy joins Vino Rosso 'in the mix' for G1 Belmont Stakes; Audible to get freshening for summer campaign
• Hofburg puts in Saratoga breeze in preparation for Belmont Stakes
• G1 Acorn part of Monomoy Girl's pursuit of championship
• Restoring Hope could join acclaimed stablemate in 'Test of the Champion'; Triple Crown hopeful Justify continues bid to conquer Big Sandy
• Belmont decision for Free Drop Billy hinges in part on Sunday workout
• Dark Vader could be a force in Easy Goer
• Mind Your Biscuits sharp in final work for G1 Met Mile
• Bravazo gallops at Churchill Downs; Tenfold visits starting gate

WinStar Farm and Repole Stable's Noble Indy could make his next start in the 150th running of the Grade 1, $1.5 million Belmont Stakes on June 9, said trainer Todd Pletcher Friday morning, following the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby winner's breeze in company with fellow Belmont hopeful Vino Rosso.

With Javier Castellano aboard, Noble Indy worked a half-mile on the inside of Vino Rosso, a three-length winner of the Grade 2 Wood Memorial and ridden by John Velazquez, on Belmont Park's main track shortly after the renovation break.

The pair hit the wire at the same time for an official four-furlong time of 47.04 seconds and galloped out five furlongs together in 59 4/5 seconds, per NYRA clockers. Neither horse sported blinkers for the work, as they have done in their respective races this spring.

"Vino Rosso and Noble Indy both breezed exceptionally well," said Pletcher. "It was a little quicker than we wanted, but they both seemed to do it well in hand, very comfortable, galloped out strongly. After talking to everybody, I think both of them are in the mix for the Belmont now.

"I was surprised watching it at how fast they were going because they didn't look like they were going that fast," he added. "Javier on Noble Indy and Johnny on Vino Rosso were sitting motionless and I cautioned them on the radio a couple times, 'Easy guys, easy, you're going a little quick.' You could see they were sitting still, but if there was a right kind of fast work, it was done easily and it didn't seem to stress the horses. They both came to the wire full of energy and galloped out strongly. I like the way they came back. They didn't take long to cool out and it looked like they cooled out well."

Both colts are exiting starts in the Kentucky Derby, contested over a sloppy and sealed track on May 5. Vino Rosso, by Curlin and owned by Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable, finished ninth in the "Run for the Roses," while Noble Indy crossed the finish line 17th in the 20-horse field.

Grade 1 Florida Derby winner Audible, who finished third in the Kentucky Derby last out, did not breeze as previously planned and instead went for an easy gallop over the main track.

The Into Mischief colt will be rerouted to a summer campaign, said the trainer, with the Grade 2, $600,000 Jim Dandy on July 28 at Saratoga Race Course or the Grade 1, $1 million Haskell Invitational on July 29 at Monmouth Park being top options for his next start.

WinStar president and CEO Elliott Walden, who watched Justify return to training Thursday morning at Churchill Downs, was on hand to see Audible and Noble Indy train at Belmont Friday morning.

"After talking to Elliot, we decided to freshen him up and point for a summer campaign," Pletcher said of Audible. "I don't feel like he's doing quite as well as he was leading into the Derby. We've kind of had a couple of weeks here where a lot of his training has been on sloppy tracks, but now that we've had some good weather and some good surfaces, I just don't feel like he's where he needs to be to feel like he's going to win the Belmont."

Audible and Noble Indy are co-owned by WinStar, as is undefeated Kentucky Derby and Preakness victor Justify, who will be vying to become the 13th Triple Crown winner.

"WinStar is fully on board with running [Noble Indy] if the horse continues to do well," said Pletcher. "The breeze this morning was I think as good as I've seen him breeze. He's a decent workhorse, but I thought this morning is the best I've seen him go. I think he put himself in the mix today."

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Hofburg puts in Saratoga breeze in preparation for Belmont Stakes

Juddmonte Farms' Hofburg put in a "good work" at Saratoga Race Course on Friday morning as he prepares for the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes on June 9, Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott said.

Hofburg breezed six furlongs on the Oklahoma training track, officially going in 1:13.43 just past 9:45 a.m. after the track was harrowed, making the track a little bit deeper, according to Mott.

"I thought it was a very good work on the training track," he said. "The best part about it was he looked like he was moving very well. We went six furlongs with him and from the half-mile pole, he was: 48 1/5; 1:00 3/5; 1:13 3/5; galloped out good and came home in good order. It looked like he took a couple of deep breaths and caught his breath in a hurry."

Forge joined Hofburg in the stretch during the breeze, which Mott said contributed to a solid finish. 

"Forge joined him for a short ways in the stretch to just make sure he completed his work in good order," he said. "He didn't quite get up on equal terms with him, but Forge did his job, and ensured a good work for Hofburg."

With just four career starts, Hofburg will be looking for his first career stakes win. After breaking his maiden at second asking on March 3 at Gulfstream Park, the Tapit colt ran second to Audible in the Grade 1 Florida Derby on March 31 in his stakes debut, setting up a seventh-place finish in the Kentucky Derby on May 5.

Mott gave the Kentucky homebred a break following the "Run for the Roses" before ramping up his training leading into the final leg of racing's Triple Crown on Big Sandy. Friday marked his second breeze in as many weeks in Saratoga, with one more scheduled there before being shipped to Belmont, where Mott said he could arrive no later than Tuesday, June 5.

"I'm pleased with what I'm seeing. He came out of the Derby in good order. We gave him an easy week after the Derby and after two weeks, we gave him his first work and today he had his second one," Mott said. "He'll have another one next weekend and then go on down to Belmont and get familiar with his surroundings."

Mott said he decided to skip last week's Preakness with no chance to win the Triple Crown. That distinction belongs to Justify, who will look to become just the 13th horse to earn that distinction in the "Test of the Champion." Mott said the rest will improve Hofburg's ability to play spoiler.

"Visually, he looks like he's carrying his flesh as well as he did heading into the Derby," Mott said. "I didn't think we had that much to gain by going to the Preakness. We felt like [since] we didn't win the Derby and had no chance to be a Triple Crown winner, we wanted to take our best shot at the Belmont Stakes."

Mott has one Belmont Stakes win on his ledger, saddling Drosselmeyer in 2010. He had kind words for Justify, who will be looking to give fellow Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert his second Triple Crown in three years should he win the 1 1/2-mile Classic.

"Justify is a very good horse, and I would have been one of the first skeptics when he came into the Derby. Being a horse who hadn't run as a 2-year-old; I've always been a believer that horses need to run as 2-year-olds in order to the win the Derby," Mott said.

"You have him to give him credit. We have a lot of respect for Justify, but on the same token, we don't want to hand him the Belmont on a silver platter. If he wins it, we're going to make him work for it."

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G1 Acorn part of Monomoy Girl's pursuit of championship

Monomoy Girl gave Louisville native Brad Cox his first Grade 1 victory in taking Keeneland's Ashland Stakes, then topped that by winning the $1 million Kentucky Oaks before a hometown crowd. Now the goal is to make Monomoy Girl the 3-year-old filly champion, the next step being Belmont Park's Grade 1, $700,000 Acorn at a mile on Belmont Stakes Day.

"Back in the fall, we thought we'd take our best shot at Grade 1s," Cox said at Churchill. "The Acorn is a Grade 1, sits right on the calendar five weeks after the Oaks, and we think a mile is probably her best distance. She's proven she can carry her speed going a mile at one turn. The one-turn mile at Belmont, we think she'll take to that.

"We have a four-race plan right now: Acorn, Coaching Club of America Oaks or possibly the Alabama [at Saratoga] or Cotillion [at Parx], then on to the Breeders' Cup. It would be nice to get four more races out of her this year. We've gotten three so far, and everything has gone as planned. It will be tough to keep things going. With horses, there obviously are setbacks - they're living, breathing creatures - but she's done extremely well all year."

Cox used the term "fantastic" to sum up how the filly is doing.

"She hasn't missed a beat. Her weight's great, her coat, she couldn't be doing any better," he said. "Going a mile and an eighth, breaking from the outside and being used a little bit early to get position, it wasn't an easy race. I thought one of the most encouraging things was that galloping out, she flicked her ears forward like, 'Is that it?' 

"But she's really bounced out of it in great order. We didn't give her any extra time or anything after the race. It was business as usual, gave her the typical three days off and back to the track and she hasn't missed a beat."

Monomoy Girl, sired by Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner Tapizar and a $100,000 Keeneland yearling purchase, is 6-for-7, with her only defeat by a neck in Churchill's Grade 2 Golden Rod on November 25. While she has set the lead in most of her races, she closed to win her 3-year-old debut in the Fair Grounds' Grade 2 Rachel Alexandra after hitting the gate at the start and shying at the eighth-pole.

In the Kentucky Oaks, Monomoy Girl broke from post 14, prompted the early pace before taking the lead and digging in to hold off Wonder Gadot by a half-length under regular rider Florent Geroux.

"Florent has done a great job with her, and I feel like she's still lightly raced," Cox said. "I think she's still figuring it out, but she took a big step forward last time, having to battle to win. That's something we didn't know she had. The only time before she'd ever really gotten in a battle, she lost here in the Golden Rod. I don't think it was because she wasn't the best horse. I think it was being green and inexperienced, feeling the stick and looking around at things. She's definitely maturing and doing things the right way."

Monomoy Girl trains at 7:40 a.m., immediately after the Belmont Stakes horses have their 10-minute allotted time. She's owned by Michael Dubb, Monomoy Stables, the Elkhorn Group and Bethlehem Stables.

Cox could also run Donegal Racing's Arklow in the $1 million Woodford Reserve Manhattan, one of six Grade 1 races on the Belmont Stakes card, or the Grade 2, $400,000 Belmont Gold Cup Invitational at two miles on June 8. The 4-year-old Arklow was fourth in Churchills' Grade 1 Old Forester Turf Classic.

"He's doing really well," Cox said. "He probably needs to go a little farther than he's been running. That's why we're looking at both those races. He ran a really good race here at Churchill against Grade 1 horses and was fourth. That was his third race off the layoff. We think he'll get better as the year goes on and as he gets older."

Shortleaf Stable's 3-year-old High North, fourth in Belmont's Grade 3 Peter Pan in his last start, could run in the $150,000 Easy Goer at 1 1/16 miles or the Grade 2, $400,000 Woody Stephens, presented by Mohegan Sun, at seven furlongs. Klein Racing's 4-year-old Will Call, winner of the Grade 3 Churchill Downs Turf Sprint on the Kentucky Oaks card, is being pointed for the Grade 2, $400,000 Jaipur Invitational at six furlongs on turf, Cox said.

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Restoring Hope could join acclaimed stablemate in 'Test of the Champion'; Triple Crown hopeful Justify continues bid to conquer Big Sandy

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert could have a second Belmont Stakes contender in Gary and Mary West's Restoring Hope, who could be among the field sent to the gate to run against Baffert's undefeated Triple Crown hopeful Justify in the 1 ½-mile "Test of the Champion" on June 9.

Baffert said the final decision to run will be made in the week leading up to the race, depending on how the colt responds in his morning routine at Churchill Downs.

Still in search of a stakes victory, Restoring Hope worked a sharp 1:00 for five furlongs over the Churchill track Tuesday morning, his second breeze since finishing 12th in the Grade 3 Pat Day Mile on the Kentucky Derby Day undercard on May 5.

In his stakes debut this spring, Restoring Hope ran a promising third to Vino Rosso and Enticed in the Grade 2 Wood Memorial on April 7 at Aqueduct Racetrack. 

"He's doing well," Baffert said by phone. "We're going to watch him train and put a few more works in him. He ran really well in the Wood, ran a nice third in there. I think sometimes with the mile and a half, they can get a piece of it. There's a lot of horses that don't want to go that far, and for others they seem to do well. We'll see."

Restoring Hope fell short of making the Kentucky Derby field with 20 points, ranking 22nd on the leaderboard, so Baffert instead sent the colt to run in the Pat Day Mile, where he returned with blinkers for the first time since his second career start, and ran six wide from post 12 and tired atop the sloppy and sealed track under Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith. Unlike Justify, Baffert said the mud may have been harder to handle than the post, but the colt seems to have put that experience behind him.

"I think he had trouble with it," he said. "I thought he was going to run good. He trains well, he's a real good work horse, and he's training well. It seems like he's getting better so we're giving him a chance."

The Giant's Causeway colt missed a first-out victory by a nose in his debut at six furlongs at Los Alamitos on December 17. He then was stretched out to 1 1/16 miles, where he followed up with a third-place finish at Santa Anita on December 30. In his 3-year-old season opener on February 2, he raced without blinkers and cleared the field to break his maiden by 3 ½ lengths at the 1 1/16-mile distance.

The Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Justify galloped 1 ½ miles under Humberto Gomez over the Churchill soil on Friday morning, just the second consecutive day of exercise on the track since he returned from Pimlico after his half-length victory in last Saturday's Grade 1 Preakness Stakes.

"He went an eighth-mile farther than he did yesterday," said assistant trainer Jimmy Barnes, who is overseeing Justify's training at Churchill. "But same speed, just took it easy. It's very nice to gallop out there without the traffic."

The Scat Daddy colt could be just the second undefeated Triple Crown winner among the 12 who have swept the three Classics since Seattle Slew remained perfect through nine starts with his four-length victory in the muddy Belmont Stakes in 1977.

Three of Justify's five career wins, all as a 3-year-old, have come over wet tracks. In his second career start, he beat four others by 6 1/2 lengths in his first race ridden by Smith.

After his three-length win in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby, his stakes debut, he met two sloppy and sealed surfaces in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, and won by 2 ½ lengths and a half-length, respectively.

A victory by Justify in the Belmont Stakes would put him alongside 1948 Triple Crown winner Citation as the only two to win the first two legs of the Triple Crown over wet tracks. That year, the Kentucky Derby was listed as "muddy," and the Preakness that followed two weeks was designated as "heavy." 

Citation caught a fast track at Belmont that year on his march to racing immortality, which leaves Justify the chance to be the only winner to capture the Crown over three off tracks should the June 9 Belmont Stakes offer a wet surface.

"These races take a lot out of them," said Baffert. "I think the mud was easier for him than having a firm track. When it's mud, it's not as tiring. Not as taxing as I think a fast or wet-fast track is. Especially when they're not as deep like they are at Belmont. Nothing compares to that Belmont surface. That thing is deep. We don't care. We just want to go up there and can't worry about the track. We just want him to run his 'A' game."

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Belmont decision for Free Drop Billy hinges in part on Sunday workout

Trainer Dale Romans said a decision on whether to run Free Drop Billy in the 150th Belmont Stakes won't be made before Albaugh Family Stables' colt has a timed workout Sunday at Churchill Downs. Free Drop Billy worked a bullet half-mile in 47.60 seconds on Monday, the fastest of 51 workouts at that distance.

Romans has said the longer the distance the better for Free Drop Billy, which makes the 1 1/2-mile Belmont particularly appealing. But he also believes the colt will excel on the turf. 

"We're pointing that way as of now," Romans said of the Triple Crown finale. "We'll just see how it goes the next few days. We'll see how he works this weekend and we'll all talk about it."

Free Drop Billy won last fall's Grade 1 Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland, then was a disappointing ninth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Del Mar. In his four starts this year, he was second in Gulfstream Park's Grade 2 Holy Bull to eventual Florida Derby winner and Kentucky Derby third-place finisher Audible, third in both Aqueduct's Grade 3 Gotham and Keeneland's Grade 2 Blue Grass before finishing 16th in the Kentucky Derby.

"He's a Grade 1 winner. He doesn't have to apologize to anyone for being there," Romans said. "He's a good horse. I don't think he liked that muddy track in the Derby. He seems to be a little sensitive to surface."

If Free Drop Billy runs in the Belmont, he'll be ridden by Robby Albarado. Another option is to wait for the Belmont Derby Invitational on grass on July 7, Romans has said.

Churchill's all-time winningest trainer also is looking at the Woody Stephens for 3-year-olds at seven furlongs for Gulfstream's Grade 2 Fountain of Youth winner Promises Fulfilled and the $150,000 Easy Goer at 1 1/16 miles for King Zachary. Both races are on the Belmont Stakes card.

"They're both good horses. King Zachary is a horse I think you'll be hearing a lot from," he said. "He's as talented as anybody we have."

Romans said he believes King Zachary has the talent to compete in the Belmont Stakes but doesn't think the son of two-time Horse of the Year and 2007 Belmont runner-up Curlin has the physical foundation to tackle 1 1/2 miles at this time.

"It's not the caliber of horse," he said. "He's not ready for a mile and half... .Promises Fulfilled is just a fast horse. We'll shorten him up and see what he does. I'm going to nominate to the Easy Goer with him, too. There's a chance we can show up with two in that race."

Free Drop Billy went out at 9:30 a.m. for a routine gallop under regular exercise rider Juan Segundo.

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Dark Vader could be a force in Easy Goer

Grade 3-placed Dark Vader remains a possibility to make his New York debut and is under consideration for the $150,000 Easy Goer on Belmont Stakes Day, June 9, trainer Peter Eurton said by phone Friday.

The 3-year-old Tale of Ekati colt is not nominated to the Triple Crown, meaning the ownership group that includes Burns Racing, Ciaglia Racing and Sharon Alesia would have to pay $50,000 to run in the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes.

With Dark Vader still looking for his first stakes win, Eurton said he could be looking at softer landing spots, including the 1 1/16-mile Easy Goer or the Grade 3 Affirmed at the same distance on June 10 at Santa Anita, where he is currently training.

"I'm going to nominate him to that 3-year-old stake [Easy Goer] that's on the same day. I could see running him in the Affirmed in California. We haven't made up our minds just yet, but the Easy Goer could be a good spot," Eurton said.

The Ohio-bred started his 3-year-old campaign with a third-place finish in the Grade 3 Robert B. Lewis before a fifth-place effort in the Grade 3 Sunland Derby on March 25. After the misfire on the New Mexico-based track, Eurton kept him local, and Dark Vader responded by winning an optional claimer over 1 1/16 miles on May 11 at Santa Anita.

"He hasn't done any good yet for us shipping, that's why we kept him in town for the last race. He ran huge," Eurton said. "He does ships well, he just hasn't had any luck yet. He hasn't really gotten his race yet. I think the big key is when he gets his trip. When he gets into the race early, that's the key for him."

Gary Broad's Core Beliefs, another talented 3-year-old in Eurton's barn, will not be making a return trip to New York for the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival after running second in the Grade 3 Peter Pan on May 12. But Eurton said the Quality Road colt will be looking for prime opportunities in the summer, including targeting the Grade 2 Jim Dandy on July 28 at Saratoga Race Course.

Core Beliefs, who ran third behind Bolt d'Oro and Triple Crown-threat Justify in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on April 7, finished 1 ½-lengths behind Blended Citizen in the Peter Pan, contested at 1 1/8 miles on Big Sandy, before returning to his home base in California.

"He came out of it very good," Eurton said. I don't want to put him [back] on a plane just yet. We could consider the Affirmed, but there's a vast amount of opportunities looking through July, August and September."

In addition to the Jim Dandy, Eurton also mentioned the Grade 1 Haskell at Monmouth Park as a summer possibility.

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Mind Your Biscuits sharp in final work for G1 Met Mile

Mind Your Biscuits wrapped up his major preparations Friday morning for the Grade 1, $1.2 million Runhappy Metropolitan Handicap on June 9. The two-time Group 1 Dubai Golden Shaheen winner blazed a strong six furlongs in 1:11.66 over the main track at Belmont Park under jockey Joel Rosario, who was told to "hold on tight" before being legged up on the chestnut by trainer Chad Summers. 

"When you're going a mile stretching out from six furlongs, you have to put some air into them," Summers said. "That was the plan today, he worked three-quarters and I couldn't be happier. I had him in 11 and four[-fifths] from the three quarter-pole, galloped out 23 and 4, I'm happy.

"I'll blow him out once, I'm not sure what day yet, just like a quarter and out three eighths," he added. "He showed me today he's sitting on go, and you see him how he's cooling out right now, so it's bubble wrap time already. It'll be 15 days with bubble wrap." 

Summers said he holds the Met Mile as his favorite among the races with long history in New York. It is also one he would like to win, and just over two weeks from race day, the young trainer is already thinking race strategy for his late-running son of Posse. 

"If Bolt d'Oro doesn't go, Bee Jersey is loose on the lead by himself," said Summers. "When he's loose on the lead he's dangerous. He's won three races in a row for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen, and then you have McCraken breezing 58s. Everybody seems like they're coming into this race in good form. Everyone's going to show up and to win a race like the Met Mile you have to earn it, and that's what we're hoping to do."

Earlier in the week it was announced that Mind Your Biscuits, the all-time leading money earning New York-bred would be sent to Japan for stud duty at the end of this year. The earner of $3,719,286 from 21 career starts will stand at Shadai Farm on the island of Hokkaido in Japan.

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Bravazo gallops at Churchill Downs; Tenfold visits starting gate

Preakness runner-up Bravazo, who would join Justify as the only horses to run in all three legs of the Triple Crown this year, galloped Friday morning with Danielle Rosier aboard at the special 7:30 a.m. training slot reserved for Belmont Stakes horses training at Churchill.

Tenfold, who finished third in the Preakness by a total of a half-length, went to the starting gate to stand, as is trainer Steve Asmussen's norm on Thursdays. The son of Curlin jogged to the gate under Angel Garcia while accompanied by assistant trainer Scott Blasi and his pony. After backing out of the gate, Tenfold had a light gallop.

Tenfold resumed training by jogging around the track Wednesday, a day earlier than the other Belmont contenders at Churchill. Blasi said they prefer to send the horses back to the track after three days off following a race and then give them some easy days such as Tenfold had Friday.