Joseph, Jr. sends out solid pair in G2 Gallant Bloom

Trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. will have two live chances in Saturday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Gallant Bloom as multiple graded stakes-placed R Disaster and the stakes-debuting Street View take on the 6 1/2-furlong sprint for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up at Belmont at the Big A.

The Gallant Bloom [Race 8] is one of five graded stakes on Saturday’s stacked 12-race program, which is headlined by the Grade 1, $500,000 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic in Race 5. The card also features the Grade 2, $300,000 Woodward in Race 6, the Grade 3, $200,000 Belmont Turf Sprint in Race 4, and the Grade 3, $200,000 Vosburgh presented by Army Mule in Race 9, a “Win and You’re In” for the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Sprint on November 1 at Del Mar. First post is 12:35 p.m. Eastern.

Averill Racing, Two Eight Racing and Anthony Mattera’s R Disaster seeks a breakthrough victory after three previous runner-up efforts at the graded level. The 4-year-old Awesome Slew bay arrives from a pacesetting win on August 20 in a six-furlong optional claimer over a sloppy and sealed Saratoga Race Course main track, landing one length ahead of the reopposing All Class after being pressured by the Horacio De Paz-trained Striker Has Dial early.

The allowance win came on the heels of a half-length second to Halina’s Forte in the Grade 2 Honorable Miss on July 20, where she was also pressured by Striker Has Dial before putting away that rival and being caught late.

“Both times she had that horse from Horacio De Paz pressuring her. Obviously it took a toll in the Grade 2. She got beat and she ran second. Then she came out last time and she was able to win the allowance,” Joseph, Jr. said. “Now hopefully she can step back up and get a graded stakes win on her resume.”

R Disaster returns to the scene of a hard-trying second to stablemate Haulin Ice – who won the Grade 3 Princess Rooney on Saturday at Gulfstream – in the Grade 3 Vagrancy going this distance in May. There, she pressured the pace set by Haulin Ice throughout and took a head lead at the stretch call before coming up just shy in the photo finish following the sustained stretch battle, with Grade 1-winner Leslie’s Rose landing another three-quarter lengths back in third.

“She’s run well in the six and a half furlongs at Aqueduct,” Joseph, Jr. said. “Originally we were going to go to Keeneland, but with this spot coming up, we thought that we could be the favorite. She’s comfortable there and she’s going in good order off the allowance win. Hopefully she’ll run as consistent as she has in the past.”

Joseph, Jr. added that speed is R Disaster’s best weapon.

“She’s a speed filly. She can be on the lead or she can stalk. Most of the time, she is fast enough where she just makes the lead,” Joseph, Jr. said.

The Florida-bred filly has finished less than one length back in each of her graded attempts, the other being a neck second to Nic’s Style in the Grade 3 Hurricane Bertie in March at Gulfstream Park. She holds an 11-6-5-0 record with $426,180 in earnings.

Jose Ortiz has the call from post 1.

Miller Racing’s Street View makes her first start for these connections after being privately purchased following a half-length third in a seven-furlong allowance on August 9 at the Spa.

Previously owned and trained by Steven Schauer, the 4-year-old Street Boss chestnut makes her stakes debut in her eighth start of a campaign that includes three wins and three other placings, including a three-length romp in a March claimer traveling one-mile here that saw her claimed by Schauer for $25,000. She moved up in the ranks to finish second in a local allowance over the same distance two starts before a 1 1/4-length score in a seven-furlong allowance tilt in June here.

“She came in good form from the previous trainer,” Joseph, Jr. said. “She’s coming out of a decent allowance that she ran third. Now we’re just giving her a shot to see if she could pick up a placing.”

Street View sold for $140,000 at the 2023 OBS March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training and is out of the unraced Birdstone mare View, a half-sister to multiple graded stakes-winning millionaire Belle Gallantey. Her fourth dam is 1990 Champion 2-Year-Old Filly and multiple graded stakes-winner Meadow Star.

Manny Franco will look to engineer a winning trip from post 7.

Juddmonte’s last-out stakes-winner Impel [post 2, Flavien Prat] seeks a graded
breakthrough for dual Eclipse Award-winning conditioner Brad Cox, entering from a gutsy head victory in the Listed Groupie Doll traveling one mile on August 10 at Ellis Park. There, she stalked a close third under Florent Geroux and put away the pacesetting Taxed at the head of the lane before being met with the challenge from Regaled to her outside in the final sixteenth. She dug in gamely to cling to victory in a final time of 1:37.63 and earned an 88 Beyer Speed Figure for the effort.

The Quality Road 4-year-old impressed in her first two starts last year when graduating on debut in January at Oaklawn Park and trouncing an optional claimer by 8 1/2 lengths in March at Fair Grounds. She went on to post four consecutive stakes placings, led by thirds in the Grade 1 Ashland at Keeneland and the Grade 3 Indiana Oaks at Horseshoe Indianapolis, the latter effort coming just a half-length back of the victorious Chatalas.

The Gallant Bloom will mark Impel’s first start sprinting since a fourth at this distance in a Keeneland optional claimer in April when making her seasonal debut. She earned a graded placing sprinting seven furlongs with a second in last year’s Grade 2 Eight Belles won by My Mane Squeeze.

Impel is out of the stakes-winning Flatter mare Your Love, who finished second in this event in 2018. She holds a 10-4-2-2 record with $556,116 in earnings.

Mark T. Anderson’s millionaire New York-bred Sterling Silver [post 5, Junior Alvarado] returns to dirt and cuts back in distance after a fourth in the state-bred 1 1/16-mile Yaddo presented by STIHL on August 22 at Saratoga.

Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, the 6-year-old Cupid gray has delivered strong performances in the last two runnings of this event. In 2023, she crossed the finish line four lengths in front but was disqualified to second for interference in the stretch. Last year, she landed third 6 3/4 lengths behind the victorious Ways and Means as part of a string of eight on-the-board finishes in stakes, including a three-quarter-length third in the Grade 2 Ruffian here behind Jody’s Pride.

Bred by Mallory Mort and Karen Mort, the evergreen mare has been on the board in 22-of-33 starts, including five stakes victories from nine overall wins and six graded placings. She is out of the unraced Distorted Humor mare Sheet Humor, who also produced Rhetorical, winner of this year’s West Point presented by Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital at the Spa.

Don Alberto Stable’s Kentucky homebred Senza Parole [post 8, Dylan Davis] scratched out of a Sunday allowance here, and makes her stakes debut in her second start off a one-year layoff for five-time Eclipse Award-winning conditioner Chad Brown, who won this event for the first time last year with Ways and Means.

The 3-year-old Gun Runner chestnut posted a sparkling debut win last August at the Spa when drawing off to a 7 3/4-length victory in a six-furlong sprint, but did not run again until almost a year to the day later going the same distance in an allowance tilt facing elders. There, she set the pace under Irad Ortiz, Jr. and held a four-length lead at the stretch call, but was run down late by Roswell, who finished third in an optional claimer on Sunday here.

Out of the winning Street Cry mare Senza Te, Senza Parole’s second dam is graded stakes-winner Sacristy, who also produced Grade 1-placed Flor de La Mar and Grade 3-placed Catiche.

Repole Stable’s Scalable [post 4, John Velazquez] returns from an eight-month layoff dating to a 1 1/4-length win in the Interborough sprinting seven furlongs here for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher.

The 4-year-old Speightstown filly stalked and pounced to victory in the Interborough, where she rallied from a bit farther back than she did when notching her first graded win in the Grade 3 Monmouth Oaks last July traveling 1 1/16 miles. The Gallant Bloom will be her shortest test to date, with two of her three wins coming at a route of ground. She graduated at fourth asking in a one-mile maiden last January at Gulfstream after contesting the Grade 2 Chandelier and Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita Park as a maiden juvenile.

Completing the field are multiple stakes-winning New York-bred Sunday Girl [post 9, Katie Davis] for trainer David Duggan; three-time winner Patricia Ann [post 3, Javier Castellano] for trainer Carlos Martin; and five-time winner All Class [post 6, Kendrick Carmouche], who scratched out of the Liberty Bell on Saturday at Parx Racing for trainer Linda Rice. 

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