Big Everest back to the Big A for Listed $150K Artie Schiller

Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, Steven Rocco and William Branch’s multiple stakes-winner Big Everest has seen half of his 10 wins come at Aqueduct Racetrack, and the 7-year-old gelding looks to get back to winning ways at the Ozone Park oval when he takes on Saturday’s Listed $150,000 Artie Schiller, a one-mile inner turf test for 3-year-olds and up, at Belmont at the Big A.

Trained by Miguel Clement, the son of The Gurkha boasts a consistent 9-5-1-2 record over the Big A turf, including wins in this event in 2022-23 and a neck second to Running Bee last year, as well as a victory in the Listed Danger’s Hour here in 2023.

“He doesn’t like Aqueduct, he loves Aqueduct,” Clement said. “Especially the mile at Aqueduct, that is very much his thing.”

The bay gelding enters from a distant fourth in the one-mile Red Bank on September 1 at Monmouth Park, where he broke a step slow and was keen early before fading under Paco Lopez. The uncharacteristic effort came on the heels of a pacesetting victory in a one-mile optional claimer on July 18 at Saratoga Race Course, where he bested subsequent Parx Dirt Mile-winner Nelson Avenue by a neck.

Clement said there were no obvious reasons for his Monmouth non-performance, noting two other fourth-place finishes at the Jersey Shore oval despite a narrow win there in the 2023 Listed Cliff Hanger.

“He has done this in the past where he’s run inexplicably poor at Monmouth for some reason,” Clement said. “We’ve never figured out why. Look at his form, you can see. He’s been training as well now as before any other previous start this year, so expect him to be back in form.”

Boasting an overall record of 24-10-2-3, Big Everest has banked $733,750 in total purse earnings. He was a $322,413 purchase at the 2020 Goffs Arqana Breeze Up Sale and is out of the graded stakes-placed Whywhywhy mare Long Face.

Manny Franco, whose lone start aboard Big Everest was their win in the Danger’s Hour, returns to the irons from post 6.

Spendthrift Farm’s multiple graded stakes-winning millionaire Major Dude [post 2, John Velazquez] seeks to round back into form as he returns to the site of his Grade 2 Pilgrim victory as a juvenile in 2022.

Trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, the 5-year-old Bolt d’Oro horse was fifth last out in the Grade 3 Mint Millions Invitational on September 6 at Kentucky Downs, where he made mild progress late to land 4 1/2 lengths back of the victorious Epic Ride. That effort came on the back of three consecutive thirds in turf stakes, including a two-length defeat in the 1 3/8-mile Grade 2 United Nations on July 19 at Monmouth.

Major Dude is in search of his first win since taking the Grade 2 Fort Lauderdale in December at Gulfstream Park. His two starts over the Big A turf were his one-length Pilgrim score over 1 1/16 miles of yielding footing and a neck second to Big Everest in an optional claimer going that same distance last June. The bay horse notched additional graded wins as a sophomore in Gulfstream’s Grade 3 Kitten’s Joy and Penn National’s Grade 2 Penn Mile.

Trainer Kelsey Danner saddled Ground Support to win the Grade 2 Miss Grillo on Saturday here, and will look to keep her New York stakes success rolling with dual stakes-winner Otago [post 4, Jose Lezcano].

Campaigned by Crown’s Way Racing, NBS Stable, Edward Delava and Eli Diamant, Otago seeks his second stakes win this year after taking Monmouth’s Cliff Hanger by a half-length over Highestdistinction in May. The 5-year-old Speightstown bay has kept good company this year, and landed second in the Listed Monmouth on June 14 behind Redistricting, who exited to win the United Nations and finished second in the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic on September 27 here.

“I feel like he's trained consistently this year,” said Danner, who is based at Turfway Park. “When he was a little bit younger, he had some soundness issues. Being able to train at Turfway with him has really worked out well. He hasn't missed any time. It's [synthetic surface] a little bit more consistent and a horse like him that's really heavy, it works out better for him having his breezes on that rather than the dirt.”

Danner added that the rallying Otago has sometimes been compromised by a lack of pace.

“He's one that needs a pace to run into - sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't,” Danner said. “Hopefully, going a mile there will be some pace.”

Otago was a $375,000 purchase at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Florida Select 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale and is out of the winning War Chant mare Mom’s Deputy, who also produced dual turf graded stakes-winner Mom’s On Strike.

D.J. Stable’s Horsepower [post 5, Dylan Davis] earned a career-best 95 Beyer Speed Figure last out for a 1 3/4-length second to Simcoe in the seven-furlong Grade 3 Vigil on September 13 over the Tapeta at Woodbine Racetrack.

Trained by Joe Orseno, the 4-year-old Good Samaritan gray has shown proficiency on both turf and synthetic, and finished a drifting fourth in Colonial Downs’ 5 1/2-furlong Listed Van Clief over turf on August 8, landing two lengths back of the victorious Witty. In the Vigil, he pounced from fifth early and improved position in the turn, but was no match for Simcoe as he chased him down the stretch.

Completing the field are dual graded stakes-winner Lucky Score [post 1, Ricardo Santana, Jr.] for dual Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse and the stakes-debuting Sand Pipes [post 3, Samuel Marin] for trainer Lindsay Schultz.

Light the Way is entered for the main track only.

The Artie Schiller is slated as Race 4 on Saturday’s 11-race program, which also features the Grade 3, $175,000 Glen Cove in Race 10. First post is 12:10 p.m. Eastern.

America’s Day at the Races will present live coverage and analysis of the Belmont at the Big A fall meet on the networks of FOX Sports. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule/.

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