One Nine Hundred back in action in G3 John A. Nerud

LJSS Thoroughbreds, Reeves Thoroughbred Racing and Adelphi Racing Club’s One Nine Hundred will look to notch his first graded victory in Saturday’s Grade 3, $175,000 John A. Nerud, a six-furlong sprint for older horses, at Belmont at the Big A.

The Nerud is slated as Race 6 on Saturday’s loaded 11-race card, which also features the Grade 2, $200,000 Ruffian in Race 7, the Grade 3, $200,000 Peter Pan in Race 9 and the $150,000 Take the A Train in Race 8. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.  

Trained by Tom Morley, One Nine Hundred brings a field-best 103 Beyer Speed Figure earned for a strong 4 1/2-length optional claiming score in January over course and distance. He followed with a narrow third in the local six-furlong Grade 3 Tom Fool, where he pressed the pace set by Breslau through the opening quarter-mile in 22.40 seconds over the good footing. He advanced to take a 1 1/2-length lead at the stretch call, but was run down late and landed three quarter-lengths back of the victorious Bold Journey and reopposing runner-up Full Moon Madness.

Morley said One Nine Hundred has trained forwardly since the Tom Fool, including a half-mile breeze in 49.25 over the Belmont Park dirt training track on Friday.

“It was a good work and I’m very pleased with him,” Morley said. “He looked to be in good shape. He got a quarter-crack about a month ago, so we spent a bit of time getting that sorted out, but that’s sorted and it’s been no problem since it got patched.”

One Nine Hundred also posted a sharp half-mile in 47 flat on April 11 following an easy five-eighths in 1:02.65 13 days prior.

“He’s a very fast horse, and he likes to work fast,” Morley said. “We try not to let him work too fast, but he needed to have a good work between races. He had a nice five-eighths and a nice sharp half, and now we’ve been on cruise control into this next start.”

The consistent Dialed In 4-year-old has hit the board in 7-of-8 starts, with seven efforts at Saturday’s distance. Additionally, he has earned six Beyers of 90 or above, including back-to-back 95s when winning an optional claimer in July at Saratoga Race Course and returning in November to finish third in a similar tilt at Churchill Downs.

A $240,000 purchase at the 2024 OBS March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, One Nine Hundred is out of the Curlin mare Hedonism, who also produced stakes-winner Real Macho.

Flavien Prat has the call from post 5.

Jay Em Ess Stable’s Kentucky homebred Full Moon Madness [post 2, Reylu Gutierrez] reopposes for trainer Michelle Nevin off his gutsy performance in the Tom Fool, where he was guided through a stalking trip by returning rider Reylu Gutierrez and just missed as he vied to defend his title in an event he won last year by 1 1/4 lengths.

Full Moon Madness boasts a consistent 20-5-4-4 record overall, with 14 local efforts producing four wins and five other placings. In addition to last year’s Tom Fool, the 6-year-old Into Mischief gelding landed a respective second and third in the six-furlong Listed Gravesend and seven-furlong Listed Toboggan in 2024-25, and fourth in last year’s Nerud won by Whatchatalkinabout. His 5-year-old campaign also included a win in Delaware Park’s Alapocas Run and a third to Damon’s Mound in the local Grade 3 Bold Ruler.

Victoria’s Ranch’s Silver Slugger will look to avenge a head defeat to Whatchatalkinabout in last year’s Nerud, where he made his lone graded stakes attempt for trainer Juan Carlos Avila.

“He’s doing so great and he’s super consistent,” said Juan Carlos Avila, Jr., speaking on behalf of his father. “His health is as good as ever, and he’s super good right now.”

The 6-year-old Cairo Prince gelding earned a career-best 94 Beyer for the effort, which came with a pacesetting trip under Junior Alvarado and saw him nailed at the wire by the New York-bred Whatchatalkinabout.

“You don’t even know how proud we are of him,” Avila, Jr. said. “He’s the baby of our stable. He’s been with us for five years and everyone takes such good care of him. He keeps getting better and better.”

Silver Slugger is in strong form, having won five of his last six starts, with his last five efforts all engineered by Sonny Leon. He strung together a four-race win streak from August through December, including a pair of stakes scores in Monmouth Park’s Rumson and Delaware’s Wilmington. The streak ended with a third in the Listed Pelican when making his seasonal bow in February at Tampa, landing three lengths back of the Irad Ortiz, Jr.-piloted pacesetter Concrete Glory.

Last out, the talented bay bounced back with aplomb to wire a 6 1/2-furlong starter optional claimer on March 7 at Tampa.

Avila, Jr. noted that Silver Slugger has won 7-of-8 starts where he had the lead through the first quarter-mile, the only outlier last year’s Nerud.

“He can run anywhere, but almost every time he’s on the lead, he doesn’t lose,” Avila, Jr. said. “In the Pelican, that was probably the best we’ve had him, and we told him [Leon] to have faith in him and let him go from the get-go. Irad went to the front, so we had to slow it up a bit. But, every time we go out front, we win.”

A $90,000 purchase at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale, Silver Slugger had yielded a marked return on investment, having banked $344,290 through a 19-12-2-1 record. He is out of the stakes-placed Wildcat Heir mare One More Wild Ride.

“We called him ‘Niño Rico,’ which means ‘Richie Rich,’ because he didn’t really race in his first year with us and he was just eating,” Avila, Jr. said, with a laugh. “Dad always said this horse was going to be good, and we just had to be patient and he’d show us. Look how it has worked. Now, we call him ‘The Gangster,’ because every time he runs, he’s battling everyone.”

Edgard Zayas picks up the mount from post 4.

Dual graded stakes-winner Durante [post 6, Ricardo Santana, Jr.] is in search of his first win since taking Churchill Downs’ Grade 3 Aristides last May for owner/trainer David Jacobson.

The 7-year-old Distorted Humor gelding won the 2023 Grade 3 Bold Ruler over Saturday’s course and distance, and next landed second in the Grade 3 Fall Highweight Handicap won by Bold Journey. Last year, Durante posted two wins from 12 starts, and landed a neck back of Nakatomi in the Grade 2 Phoenix at Keeneland. He is winless in two starts this season, but enters from a game second in an April 17 optional claimer at Keeneland won by Illuminare.

Completing the field are New York-bred stakes-winners Acoustic Ave [post 3, Jose Lezcano] for trainer Linda Rice and Radio Red [post 1, Kendrick Carmouche] for conditioner Danny Gargan. 

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