Francesca Le Donne Photo

Belmont Park Notes 5.10.18

by NYRA Press Office

• Patch eyes 4-year-old campaign; Hi Happy Favored in G1 Man o' War
• Man o' War entrant Postulation looking forward to BSRF
• G3 Peter Pan contender Blended Citizen settling in at Belmont
• Scholar Athlete has 'his confidence back' ahead of Man o War bid

Calumet Farm’s one-eyed fan favorite Patch will make his 4-year-old debut in Race 6 on Saturday at Belmont Park, an allowance for 4-year-olds and up at 1 1/16 miles on the main track. 

It is his first start since his fourth-place finish in the Grade 3 West Virginia Derby at Mountaineer Racetrack on August 5. The son of Union Rags has been training at Palm Beach Downs in Florida for trainer Todd Pletcher.

“He’s been training well,” Pletcher said. “It’s been a while since he ran, so I assume that he’ll benefit from a run, but we have him tight enough to have him make a good showing of himself. 

“We got him back about three months ago, and he’s been training steadily since then,” he added. “He was a little tired after his West Virginia effort so we sent him back to Calumet to freshen him up.”

Patch became a sentimental darling among racing fans during last year’s Kentucky Derby season after it was discovered that he is missing his left eye due to an ulcer underneath suffered as a 2-year-old. Unraced that year, Patch debuted as a 3-year-old at Gulfstream Park with a second-place finish on January 18 before he returned a little more than a month later to break his maiden.

He was entered in the Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds Race Course in April, and he responded with a strong second to Girvin to earn 40 points and a spot in the gate for the “Run for the Roses.”

Patch, who was named before the injury, was the first partially-blind horse to race in the Kentucky Derby since Pollard’s Vision in 2004. Patch finished 14th after a rough trip that began from the inside post. The Kentucky-bred returned to run third in the Belmont Stakes on June 10, a race his sire won in 2012.

Patch will be joined by Hall of Fame rider John Velazquez, who was aboard for the Belmont Stakes and guided Patch to victory in his maiden win.

La Providencia LLC’s High Happy will face nine others as the 5-2 favorite in Saturday’s Grade 1, $700,000 Man o’ War at 1 3/8 miles on the inner turf after his 2 ¾-length victory in the 1 ½-mile Grade 2 Pan American on March 31 at Gulfstream.

The Argentinian-bred by Pure Prize has four works since his last start at Palm Beach Downs, and will make his 13th career start on Saturday, but just his third start for Pletcher after being transferred to his care before his third-place finish in the 1 1/8-mile Grade 1 Gulfstream Park Turf on February 10.

“He’s really a model citizen,” Pletcher said. “Just a terrific horse to train, he’s very straightforward, very professional. We were very pleased with his first run going a mile and an eighth. He does well, and we were looking forward to stretching him out. He did what we were hoping for in the Pan American and he’s been pointing for this since then. I think a mile and a quarter-plus suits him well.”

The 6-year-old had only three starts in 2017, which began with a fourth-place finish in the Grade 2 San Marcos at Santa Anita on February 4. Another fourth-place effort followed in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap on March 11, and a game duel to the wire led to him to finish a neck behind for third to close out the year.

Unraced as a 2-year-old, Hi Happy was a multiple Grade 1 winner in Argentina before debuting in the United States with a seventh-place finish in the 1 1/16-mile Grade 2 Seabiscuit Handicap at Del Mar.

Calumet Farm’s Pony Up could be headed to Baltimore for next Saturday’s Preakness Day card at Pimlico Race Course, said Pletcher. Where he will start is yet to be determined, but decisions made by others over the next few days will finalize plans.

“We’re just kind of waiting to see what the Preakness field does before deciding,” Pletcher said. “He could run at Pimlico in the Sir Barton, or if there’s some changes to the field in the Preakness we’ll keep an eye on that as well.”

The 3-year-old by Aikenite rallied to a third place finish in the Grade 3 Lexington on April 14 after missing by a neck to Blended Citizen in the Grade 3 Jeff Ruby Steaks at Turfway Park on March 17.

Pony Up began his sophomore campaign on the turf falling short by a neck to eventual Kentucky Derby runner Flameaway in the January 6 Kitten’s Joy at Gulfstream. It was his third of three consecutive starts on grass which began with his October 22 maiden breaking win at Gulfstream Park West, and a runner-up finish in the Pulpit at Gulfstream on December 9.

Pony Up returned to the dirt for only the second time since his debut in the Grade 2 Holy Bull on February 3, his first graded stakes try in which he ran fifth behind eventual Kentucky Derby third-place finisher and stablemate Audible.

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Man o’ War entrant Postulation looking forward to BSRF

Runnymede Racing’s long-distance specialist Postulation is primed and ready to go for Saturday’s Grade 1 Man o’ War at 1 3/8 miles on the inner turf, said trainer Edward Graham.

The Man o’ War will mark the 6-year-old Harlan’s Holiday gelding’s first try in a graded stakes since finishing eighth in the Grade 1 Canadian International at 1 ½ miles on soft turf in October at Woodbine. Last summer, Postulation posted a six-length score in the 1 ½-mile Cape Henlopen at Delaware Park and followed with a 2 ¼-length victory in the 1 11/16-mile Grade 3 American St. Leger at Arlington Park. 

Postulation, based at Fair Hill Training Center, returned from a nearly six-month layoff on April 13 in a loaded optional-claiming race, where he finished a close third behind fellow Man o’ War entrants Scholar Athlete and Wake Forest.

“He does well when he comes back fresh and he had the winter off, so I was very pleased with that race,” said Graham. “I wanted to see how he was training and then that allowance race came up, so we went in it.”

Graham added that the connections’ hope is that Saturday’s assignment sets up Postulation for his major spring goal, the Grade 2, $400,000 Belmont Gold Cup Invitational at two miles on the grass as part of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival on Friday, June 8.

“I want to get a couple of races in before that two-mile stakes because I think he’ll like that distance,” he said. “I like going a mile and three-eighths and then stretching out to two miles. He’s made it obvious that he likes going long, especially after he won at Delaware going a mile and a half. He’s been doing everything right in those kinds of races.”

At 20-1 on the morning line in the Man o’ War, Postulation will be ridden by Jorge Vargas, Jr. from the rail.

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G3 Peter Pan contender Blended Citizen settling in at Belmont

Greg Hall and Sayjay Racing’s Jeff Ruby Steaks winner Blended Citizen, fresh off being scratched from the also-eligible list in last Saturday’s Kentucky Derby, will make his 10th career start in Saturday’s Grade 3, $350,000 Peter Pan at 1 1/8 miles on the main track.

The son of Proud Citizen settled in on Belmont Park’s backstretch after shipping from Churchill Downs for trainer Doug O’Neill.

“He’s doing really well,” O’Neill said by email. “We’ve always been excited about him. He’s just now maturing into the horse that we saw glimpses of excellence in many mornings, months ago. Hopefully, we get a good, safe trip on Saturday.”

The Kentucky-bred exits a fifth-place finish in the April 7 Grade 2 Blue Grass at Keeneland where he was forced to steady late to avoid a swerving foe which came after a six-wide sweep into the stretch. The Blue Grass was the second graded stakes try for Blended Citizen after his Jeff Ruby victory in which he debuted with blinkers.

The colt began 2018 with a third-place run in El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate on February 17, which followed three straight turf starts in which he broke his maiden on November 24 at Del Mar.

Blended Citizen then closed out his 2-year-old season with a fourth-place finish in the Eddie Logan at Santa Anita, his last start on grass.

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Scholar Athlete has ‘his confidence back’ ahead of Man o’ War bid

West Point Thoroughbred’s Scholar Athlete will be vying for his third straight win when he steps into the starting gate in Saturday’s Grade 1 Man o’ War for trainer Graham Motion.

A 5-year-old gelding by Einstein, Scholar Athlete has earned three victories in four starts going back to December, including a pair of wins at Tampa Bay Downs over the winter. Last time out, he split horses and dug in for a neck victory over 2016 Man o’ War winner Wake Forest in an April 13 optional-claimer at Aqueduct to earn a career-high 94 Beyer Speed Figure.

“He won his prep race and he did so quite gamely I thought,” said Motion. “I think the form of that race was like a Grade 2. He likes the longer distance.”

The Man o’ War will be the first stakes race for Scholar Athlete since finishing third in the Grade 3 Commonwealth Turf in November of 2016 at Churchill Downs.

“This seems to be the best form he’s been in in his career and I can’t ask for more,” Motion added. “I think he’s done particularly well over the winter in Tampa. I think that gave him some of his confidence back.”

The Ontario-bred will ship from Fair Hill to Belmont on Friday, said Motion. Trevor McCarthy has the assignment aboard Scholar Athlete, who will break from post 3.