No Evidence hopes to prove best in $150K Carle Place

Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, R. A. Hill Stable and Brandon Dalinka’s dual Grade 3-placed No Evidence seeks his first stakes score in Sunday’s $150,000 Carle Place, a six-furlong outer turf sprint for sophomores, at Belmont at the Big A.

Trained by Miguel Clement, the Vekoma bay has hit the board in all six of his starts and enters from a pair of Grade 3 thirds sprinting 5 1/2 furlongs at Saratoga Race Course. No Evidence landed show honors four lengths back of the victorious Governor Sam in the Spa’s Grade 3 Quick Call presented by Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation in July ahead of a 1 3/4-length defeat to returning rival Spiced Up in the Grade 3 Mahony last out on August 10 there.

“Even though he has not won in these turf sprints on the New York circuit, he has been very competitive,” Clement said. “This is just a very tough, salty bunch of 3-year-old turf sprinters here at the moment.” 

In the Mahony, No Evidence rallied five-wide into the stretch and then returning rider Manny Franco rerouted him to the inside of the fading pacesetters as the victorious Spiced Up drew up to his outside. No Evidence landed a half-length back of Grade 1-placed Governor Sam for second, and earned a career-best 88 Beyer Speed Figure.

No Evidence’s other four outings featured a second-out graduation sprinting five furlongs in February at Gulfstream Park ahead of a close second over that same course in the Texas Glitter in March. 

“He can be forwardly placed, stalking, or mid-pack,” said Clement. “He is versatile. Hopefully that can help us out, depending on how the pace is.”

No Evidence [post 8, Manny Franco], a $325,000 purchase at the 2024 OBS Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, is out of the winning The Factor mare Hidden Facts and his second dam is stakes-winner Mystic City. 

Juddmonte’s Kentucky homebred Spiced Up [post 10, Junior Alvarado] followed his aforementioned Mahony score with a last-out off-the-board effort as the favorite in the 6 1/2-furlong Grade 1 Franklin-Simpson on September 6 at Kentucky Downs. Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, the Quality Road bay traveled well off the pace at Kentucky Downs, lacking racing room near the eighth-pole and never threatening over the good turf. 

In the Mahony, Spiced Up showed a good kick from 6th-of-8 to post the 1 1/4-length victory over Governor Sam which registered a career and field-best 94 Beyer. Spiced Up was making just his second start on turf after a third-out graduation versus elders over Sunday’s course and distance in June to launch his current campaign. 

As a juvenile, Spiced Up posted a pair of off-the-board efforts in dirt sprints at Churchill Downs. He is out of the winning Pioneerof the Nile mare Cardamon, who is a half-sister to Emollient, a dual-surface Grade 1 winner, as well as Grade 1-placed Hofburg. Cardamon is also a full-sister to Calm Water, dam of Group 1-winning multimillionaire Laurel River.

Case Chambers, Paradise Farms Corp. and David Staudacher’s New York-bred Out On Bail [post 5, Joel Rosario] missed the board for the first time in nine career starts last out in the Franklin-Simpson. Trained by Mike Maker, the Tiz the Law gray stalked the pace and led at the stretch call before being swarmed at the eighth pole to land 4 1/4 lengths back of the victorious Troubleshooting. 

Out On Bail entered that spot from a one-length third when stretching out in the Grade 3 Penn Mile on June 27 at Penn National. He had made all of his previous starts at five or 5 1/2 furlongs, including a win in last year’s Skidmore at Saratoga, which he exited to run three consecutive stakes seconds.

Bred in the Empire State by Matthew Nestor, Out On Bail, out of the winning Street Cry mare Judge Lee, was a $110,000 purchase at the 2024 OBS March Sale of Two-Year-Olds in Training.

Travin Stables’ Fire Pit [post 1, Andy Hernandez] was a 3 1/4-length third in the Grade 2 Gallant Bob sprinting six furlongs on dirt last out on September 20 at Parx Racing. Trained by Guadalupe Preciado, the Cairo Prince gray hit the board in his third consecutive dirt sprint stakes, and now will try the grass for the first time since April. 

“He’s doing great,” said Preciado. “I think he runs the same on turf. He’s been getting a bit unlucky, but he’s still learning. I think his last race was one of the best races he’s ever run.” 

Fire Pit earned a career-best 86 Beyer for the Gallant Bob and picked up his first graded placing in his first attempt. He boasts a record of 14-3-3-2 with $181,713 in earnings, exceeding his purchase price of $35,000 from the 2024 OBS Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training. 

Rounding out the field is graded stakes-placed Cairo Caper [post 9, Jaime Rodriguez] for trainer Phil Schoenthal; stakes-winners Global Steve [post 6, Eliseo Ruiz] for conditioner Butch Reid, Jr., and Bucaro [post 3, Jose Lezcano, blinkers ON] for trainer Michael Trombetta; multiple stakes-placed Forged Steel [post 2, Javier Castellano] for trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr.; stakes-placed Cyclonite [post 7, Dylan Davis] for dual Hall of Famer Mark Casse; and maiden-winner Landing Craft [post 4, Ricardo Santana, Jr.] for conditioner Amelia Green. 

The Carle Place is slated as Race 4 on Sunday’s nine-race card. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.

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