Francesca Le Donne Photo

Belmont Stakes Racing Festival Notes 5.23.18

by NYRA Press Office

• Undefeated Triple Crown hopeful Justify gets one more day off, to resume training Thursday
• Bolt d'Oro looking to impress New York crowd in G1 Runhappy Met Mile
• Lukas: Belmont will be better race than the Derby for Bravazo
• Met Mile contender Mind Your Biscuits to stand in Japan in 2019
• Asmussen on Tenfold: 'All indications here are go' for Belmont
• Terranovas 'ready to roll' as Justify's hosts
• Strike Power cutting back for G2 Woody Stephens
• Free Drop Billy possible for Belmont - with Belmont Derby an option

Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Justify was given a fourth day off Wednesday after his half-length victory over Belmont-bound Bravazo in Baltimore’s middle leg of the Triple Crown. Jimmy Barnes, chief assistant to Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert who oversees Justify’s training on the road, said America’s top-ranked 3-year-old will resume training Thursday at Churchill Downs, where he is being prepared for the Grade 1, $1.5 million Belmont Stakes on June 9.

Barnes said Justify will train at the special 7:30-7:40 a.m. ET time slot that Churchill Downs is restricting to Belmont candidates beginning Thursday. Others at Churchill under Belmont consideration are Bravazo, Preakness third-place finisher Tenfold and Free Drop Billy, winner of last year’s Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity who finished 16th in the Kentucky Derby.

“We came out of the race in great shape, head back to the track tomorrow,” Barnes said. “With the ship, we gave him an extra day, the four days and look forward to going back to the track tomorrow.”

Barnes said the muscular Justify never backed off eating after a taxing trip in the 1 3/16-mile Preakness, where he was tested throughout by reigning 2-year-old champion Good Magic and then held off Bravazo and Tenfold.

“He’s a chowhound, he eats up everything,” Barnes said. “Couldn’t be happier with his weight, his flesh, his color. Everything is great on him.”

Baffert has won the Belmont Stakes twice, with Triple Crown winner American Pharoah in 2015 and Preakness winner Point Given in 2001. He narrowly lost the Belmont in 1997 with Triple Crown aspirants Silver Charm and in 1999 with Real Quiet, the latter by a nose.

Justify is owned by WinStar Farm, China Horse Club International, Starlight Racing and Head of Plains Partners. WinStar Farm president and CEO Elliott Walden said Justify’s Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith will wear China Horse Club’s red silks with yellow stars and sleeves in the Belmont.

*    *    *

Bolt d’Oro looking to impress New York crowd in G1 Runhappy Met Mile

Ruis Racing’s Bolt d’Oro will make his first appearance on the East Coast when he runs in the Grade 1, $1.2 million Runhappy Metropolitan Handicap on Belmont Stakes Day, June 9, marking his first appearance since running 12th in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby on May 5.

The Derby misfire was the only time in seven career starts the Medaglia d’Oro colt finished off the board, having started his 3-year-old campaign with a win in the Grade 2 San Felipe on March 10 at Santa Anita and running second to Triple Crown-threat Justify in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on April 7 in California.

“We think this race is good because he’ll make a really good stallion and people on the East Coast really like to see if they have speed and stamina, so I thought it was a good spot for him,” trainer Mick Ruis said by phone Wednesday morning.

Breaking from post 11 in the Derby, Bolt d’Oro was forced into a wide trip and stayed close until the far turn but wilted in the stretch on the sloppy and sealed Churchill Downs track. Ruis said the rest, along with the cutback from running 1 ¼ miles, could be beneficial for the Kentucky-bred.

“You’d think it’d help. We wanted to give him a little bit of time after the Derby,” Ruis said. “He came back good. He just didn’t like the slop and he was in the real heavy part of the track, going six-wide. We’ll find out when he runs on it how he likes the track [at Belmont].”

The Derby marked the first time Bolt d’Oro raced out of California, having won his first two races, including the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity and the Grade 1 FrontRunner, before capping his 2-year-old campaign by running third in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.

Bolt d’Oro is currently training at Keeneland, where Ruis said he is scheduled to breeze on Monday and again on Sunday, June 3. Ruis said he is scheduled to ship to New York on the same plane as Justify on June 6. 

“We’re going to fly him in on the sixth on the same flight as Justify,” Ruis said. “He ships fine. He’s such a good-minded horse.”

Ruis said Union Strike is expected to run in the Grade 3, $200,000 Intercontinental at seven furlongs on the turf on Thursday, June 7, Opening Day of the three-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival. The 4-year-old Union Rags filly will be making her first appearance since finishing seventh in the Grade 2 La Canada on January 13.

Union Strike will be making her first start on Belmont’s Big Sandy since running fifth in last year’s Grade 1 Acorn. After suffering an injury in that race and recovering from a quarter crack, Union Strike made her first start in seven months in the one-mile La Canada on the dirt at Santa Anita. 

“She’s doing great, I’ve been wanting to get her on the turf for a long time,” Ruis said. “I think the issues are behind her now and we’re ready to get her on the turf.”

*    *    *

Lukas: Belmont will be better race than the Derby for Bravazo

Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas, who won the “Test of the Champion” every year from 1994-1996 as well as in 2000, said he expects this year’s Belmont Stakes to be a better race than the Kentucky Derby won by Justify. Calumet Farm’s Bravazo, trained by Lukas, was sixth to Justify in the Derby and second by only a half-length in the Preakness.

“Here’s why: It’s got a smaller field, bigger racetrack and it’s got all the major players,” he said. “Why would you not call it a better race? It’s going to be more fair, more honest, more demanding. It’s got all the Hall of Fame trainers. All the quality is there. The racetrack. The three-week break. What’s not to like? It’s a better race. Twenty head over here, some don’t belong, stopping, starting. It [the Belmont] is the best race. Whoever wins that should go to the top of the class, the leaderboard.”

Bravazo, who vanned back to Louisville from Baltimore Sunday, walked the shedrow Wednesday morning and will resume training Thursday at the special 7:30 a.m. time restricted to Belmont contenders.

Lukas said Bravazo came out of the race so well that “he was all over the barn” while walking, adding, “I should have taken him” to the track. “I watched him here for about five minutes and said [to the hotwalker] ‘be careful.’ He’s on his game.”

With fog enshrouding Pimlico during the Preakness, it was hard for trainers to see where their horses were.

“I thought I was at Los Alamitos there, running 440 yards,” Lukas joked, referencing the Quarter Horse background Justify trainer Bob Baffert and he had before they turned to training thoroughbreds. “I flashed back to my old days. I thought, ‘Here’s Baffert and I at Los Alamitos.”

More seriously, Lukas continued, “When he hit the three-eighths pole, I looked at the screen to see what the numbers were on the bottom and saw he was still third. I watched that number because I couldn’t see him. Then the numbers went off at the top of the stretch, so I started [looking for him]. I thought he’d be on the outside, and he was. I told [jockey Luis Saez] to be on the outside. So, I started watching outside and I picked him up probably a little earlier than you [media] did.

“He was flying. I kind of flashed, ‘Where’s the wire?’ When you’re in front, you say, ‘Where’s the wire?’ I wanted it to be a little farther down the base path.”

Lukas said he plans to run Churchill Downs Racing Club’s Warrior’s Club, winner of the Grade 2 Churchill Downs Stakes on Derby Day, in the Met Mile on the Belmont Stakes card.

*    *    *

Met Mile contender Mind Your Biscuits to stand in Japan in 2019

Mind Your Biscuits, the all-time New York-bred leading money earner, will be sent to Japan for stud duty at the end of this year, trainer Chad Summers said Wednesday. The earner of $3,719,286 from 21 career starts will stand at Teruya Yoshida’s Shadai Farm in Abira on the island of Hokkaido in Japan.

“It’s one of those things,” Summers said. “They showed a strong interest in him for a while. Eugenio Colombo [President, Colombo Bloodstock Agency LLC,] came to see him a few times down at Palm Meadows, and really liked him.

“We’re really excited. The big thing is that he’ll have a chance to go on, and he can be atop their stallion list. He has a chance to become a real nice horse, and they already have a few specific mares waiting for him. Both Mr. Yoshida and his brother who both run the farm are very excited to have a horse like him coming from the States. I know they have about 30 stallions, and Mind Your Biscuits, we think he has a really big year in front of him, and if we didn’t think that we wouldn’t have made the deal. I’m going to be real sad to see him go, but we still have time together.”

The two-time $2 million Group 1 Dubai Golden Shaheen winner is pointed towards his third start of the year in the Met Mile, one of six Grade 1 stakes on the Belmont Stakes Day undercard on Saturday, June 9.

The 5-year-old son of Posse will return to the Belmont main track this Friday morning to add his third workout since returning from a few weeks of freshening at the Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland. Last Friday, Mind Your Biscuits worked five furlongs in 1:02.55 over the training track listed as good with jockey Joel Rosario in the irons. It was the second work since his return to Belmont after he galloped a strong four furlongs in 46.98 over the main track listed as fast on May 11.

“We decided to go over to the training track,” Summers said. “It was more of a maintenance breeze more than anything, maybe a little more than a two-minute lick around. He went with Joel, nice and easy. It sets us up nice this Friday. This will be his big work leading up to the race.”

The multiple graded stakes winner is coming off his second Dubai victory, this time remaining at Meydan Racecourse for a week after he thrilled his fans with a determined last-to-first finish to win by a head. Mind Your Biscuits then flew to Chicago, and vanned to Maryland where he was given some time off. 

Mind Your Biscuits owns victories in the Grade 2 Amsterdam at Saratoga, Grade 1 Malibu Stakes at Santa Anita, and Grade 2 Belmont Sprint Championship, and topped Funny Cide as the leading money winning New York-bred with his 2018 win in Dubai.

*    *    *

Asmussen on Tenfold: ‘All indications here are go’ for Belmont

Steve Asmussen, who on Kentucky Derby Day became the second trainer to win 8,000 races, said Winchell Thoroughbreds’ Tenfold came out of his Preakness third-place finish “beautiful” and is squarely on course to run in the Belmont Stakes.

Tenfold jogged at Churchill Downs Wednesday morning shortly after the track opened. He will resume galloping Thursday at the 7:30 a.m. time restricted to Belmont Stakes candidates, Asmussen said.

Tenfold, who like Justify never raced as a 2-year-old, was making his fourth start in the Preakness, having won a maiden and allowance race at Oaklawn Park before coming in fifth in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby.

“I think we’re just getting to where we’re wanting to be with him,” Asmussen said. “He came out of it well physically, gave him a little jog this morning and he was as comfortable as he always is.”

“We expect to run,” he said of the Belmont, a race he won in 2016 with WinStar Farm’s Creator. “All indications here are go. I was very anxious to be here this morning when he went back to the track and I loved how he looked. It’s going to be a very exciting 2 1/2 weeks, and it sure feels like we’re going to get to play.”

*    *    *

Terranovas ‘ready to roll’ as Justify’s hosts

With Justify in training at Churchill Downs in the interim, trainer John Terranova and his wife Tonja are quietly preparing to host Bob Baffert’s undefeated stable star when he arrives at Belmont Park in his bid for greatness in the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes on June 9.

The Scat Daddy colt vies to become the second Triple Crown winner the Terranovas have housed in Barn 1, which served as American Pharoah’s home away from home when he ended the 37-year drought in 2015. The trainer and his wife have housed many of Baffert's superstars who have journeyed through the New York Racing Association circuit over the years, including Eclipse Award honorees, eventual Hall of Famers and a Triple Crown winner.

“We’re ready to roll,” said Tonja Terranova, who served as an assistant to Baffert in California before moving east. “Jimmy [Barnes] said he’s doing good, got to Churchill in good shape, so now we just sit and wait. It’s not [stressful]. They come in and we all work together. We help them whenever they need it. No one bats an eye.”

“It’s nice to get to be around those kinds of horses,” John Terranova added. “They’re so rare. It would be great to do it again.”

The Terranovas expect to follow the same basic plan as they did in 2015, stabling the horse on the north end of the barn, although it’s not yet determined if Justify will settle into Stall 30, made famous during American Pharoah’s run for immortality. 

“It’s a quiet corner back there,” Tonja said. “You can rope it off and people can’t get to him. No one’s peering through the windows. More than likely, that’s where he’s going to go. I don’t know which stall. I haven’t talked to Jimmy [Barnes] about it yet. Once we talk to him, we’ll figure where we’re going to put him and stuff. It’ll be fun. We can’t wait.”

*    *    *

Strike Power cutting back for G2 Woody Stephens

Courtlandt Farm’s Strike Power is on target for the Grade 2, $400,000 Woody Stephens, presented by Mohegan Sun, contested at seven furlongs, on Belmont Stakes Day, trainer Mark Hennig said Wednesday morning.

“That’s the plan, he’s doing great,” Hennig said. “We gave him a little time before we breezed him back because we’re going to be cutting back from a mile and an eighth, but he’s doing super.”

Strike Power should be coming in fresh following a two-month break following an eighth-place finish in the Grade 1 Florida Derby on March 31 at Gulfstream Park. The 3-year-old Speightstown colt continues to train at Belmont, where he will race for the first time on Big Sandy.

“He knows the track and he’s trained here a lot; he was here last year and got ready here, so we’re looking forward to it,” Hennig said. “I thought he had a good work [on May 18], we were trying to get a work in between rain storms. I just wanted a maintenance work last week. He had a real sharp breeze the week before.

Hennig said Strike Power’s next work will likely be five furlongs on Friday, weather permitting.

My Miss Lilly, who won the Grade 2 Gazelle on April 7 at Aqueduct, is also training and could return later in the Belmont spring/summer meet, Hennig said. The Tapit filly ran 11th in her last start in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks on May 4.

*    *    *

Free Drop Billy possible for Belmont — with Belmont Derby an option

Trainer Dale Romans termed Albaugh Family Stable’s Free Drop Billy “possible” for the Belmont Stakes but added that the $1.2 million Belmont Derby Invitational on July 7 is an option.

Free Drop Billy won of last year’s Grade 1 Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity and third in this year’s Gotham Stakes (G3) at Aqueduct and Keeneland’s Toyota Blue Grass (G2) before finishing 16th in the Kentucky Derby. Romans believes turf could be in Free Drop Billy’s future. His mom, Trensa, also produced Hawkbill, a Group 1 winner in England and Dubai.

Romans said the Belmont decision will come down to “gut instinct” and how Free Drop Billy is doing, more than who else might be running.

“His brother is one of the best turf horses in the world,” he said. 

Free Drop Billy is expected to start training at Churchill Downs’ special 7:30 a.m. time restricted to Belmont Stakes horses.

Romans said Robert Baron’s Promises Fulfilled, Gulfstream Park’s Grade 2 Fountain of Youth winner who faded to 15th in the Kentucky Derby after pushing the pace with Justify, could run in the Grade 2 Woody Stephens. He said Thomas Conway’s King Zachary, winner of a Churchill Downs’ allowance race after finishing sixth in the Grade 2 Wood Memorial is a candidate for the $150,000 Easy Goer at 1 1/16 miles.