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Endorsed aims to impress in first stakes start in G1 Champagne

by NYRA Press Office

• Holy Helena ‘fresh,’ ‘strong’ heading into Sunday’s G1 Flower Bowl
• Reddam Racing’s Listing looks to step up in one-turn mile in Champagne
• Monette set for U.S. debut in Monday’s G3 Matron
• Hi Happy aims to get back on track in G2 Knickerbocker
• Giveaway sale, ‘Breakfast at Belmont’ highlight October Racing Festival events

Godolphin’s Endorsed, coming off a victory by a neck in his debut on August 18 at Saratoga Race Course, will make both his Belmont Park and stakes debuts on Saturday in the Grade 1, $500,000 Champagne for 2-year-olds.

The Kiaran McLaughlin trainee breezed twice on Belmont’s Big Sandy in September after arriving from Saratoga and will take aim at the one-turn mile with a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on the line.

“He’s doing great and everything is in good shape,” McLaughlin said on Friday morning. “He looked good today and he’s ready to go tomorrow. Everything is in good shape.”

The Medaglia d’Oro colt drew the rail in the 10-horse Champagne field and is 7-2 on the morning line. McLaughlin said he is ready to see how Endorsed handles the increased competition level after earning an 89 Beyer Speed Figure in his win over six furlongs on a wet Saratoga main track.

“His work here was very fast and quick,” McLaughlin said. “He’s stepping up from a maiden race, but so are a lot of them. It’s a quality group of colts and we just hope that we get lucky. It’s a very important race.”

Endorsed won from post 4 in a nine-horse field at Saratoga but will be breaking from the inside with jockey Joe Bravo in the irons on Saturday.

“It’s not my ideal spot, but he’s done everything right. It’s not a big deal,” McLaughlin said. “It seems like the [inside] has been good at Belmont this meet, so it might be the best place to be. But you never know. I think there’s a lot of pace in this race, so he might be laying just off of them. You don’t know. We’ll let Joe Bravo figure out where he wants to be.”

Shadwell Stable’s Qurbaan will also help make Saturday a busy one for McLaughlin, with the 5-year-old Speightstown horse set to compete in the Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile at Keeneland, a “Win and You’re In” race for the Breeders’ Cup Mile.

Qurbaan shipped in from Saratoga, where he breezed five furlongs on September 21 on the Oklahoma turf track before putting in his latest work at the Greentree Training Center on September 28. Qurbaan will be making his first start since winning the Grade 2 Bernard Baruch on September 3 at the Spa.

“We were thrilled with his Bernard Baruch and he came out of it in great shape,” McLaughlin said. “We’re excited about it. It rained hard there last night, so the [turf] might be soft. But it would be huge to win that race.”

Peter Deutsch’s Take Charge Paula came out of her sixth-place finish in the Grade 3 Charles Town Oaks on September 22 in good order but was undecided on the next spot for the 3-year-old daughter of Take Charge Indy.

Before running at Charles Town, Take Charge Paula ran third in the Jersey Girl on June 10 at Belmont and followed with a seventh-place finish in the Grade 3 Victory Ride on the same track July 8.

“She came out of it in good shape,” McLaughlin said about her last race. “She didn’t run that great but we’re not sure what we are going to do next with her at the moment.”

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Holy Helena ‘fresh,’ ‘strong’ heading into Sunday’s G1 Flower Bowl

Stronach Stable's Canadian champion Holy Helena is primed for her New York return on Sunday in the Grade 1, $500,000 Flower Bowl following a three-month layoff, said trainer Jimmy Jerkens Friday morning.

“She’s fresh, she looks good,” he said. “She seems pretty strong right now.”

Last year, the Ontario-bred Ghostzapper filly put together solid victories over the Tapeta course at Woodbine, winning the Woodbine Oaks before putting away males in the Queen's Plate en route to being named Canada's champion 3-year-old filly in 2017.

Her connections opted to make a switch to the turf this winter, which produced three straight wins for the 4-year-old, all over firm going, including a 1 ¾-length score in the Grade 3 The Very One on March 3 at Gulfstream prior to winning the 1 3/8-mile Grade 2 Sheepshead Bay by a half-length at Belmont in May. She followed with a fifth-place finish in the New York before returning to Woodbine for the Grade 2 Dance Smartly, where she finished third as the 5-2 favorite last time out on June 30.

Holy Helena has been installed as the 3-1 second-choice on the Flower Bowl morning line behind 7-5 favorite Fourstar Crook.

According to Jerkens though, the only question mark this weekend could be the potential for softer turf this weekend.

“Let’s just hope she takes to the footing,” said Jerkens. “She’s kind of long and lanky and those loose-ended horses, when they plant their feet down, they want to be able to push off. It’s not very economical when the ground doesn’t cooperate with them. I don’t really know because she hasn’t run on it before, but just from what I think of her, I don’t get the impression she’ll really care for it. Hopefully a few days of nice weather will help.”

Jerkens added that Rocketry exited his record-setting performance in Sunday’s Temperence Hill in good order, where the 4-year-old colt by Hard Spun rallied from last of five for a 1 ½-length victory in his first try on the main track, breaking Man o’ War’s 98-year-old track record for 1 5/8 miles.

“He’s really good,” he said. “He doesn’t change much. He’s been even-keeled the two years I’ve had him. He was so slow [training on the dirt] when he started his career, you wouldn’t even think of running him on the dirt, especially in Florida, where you knew he’d just trail all the way. Then, later on, he started breezing very well on the dirt, even against some decent horses. I wanted to try him on the dirt, but I had to find the right spot. It seemed like distance was never an object for him and this race came up. It worked out.”

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Reddam Racing’s Listing looks to step up in one-turn mile in Champagne

Reddam Racing’s Listing continues to settle in well at Belmont as he prepares for his graded stakes debut in Saturday’s Grade 1 Champagne for juveniles, trainer Ben Cecil said Friday morning.

Listing made an impression in his debut, posting a 1 ¼-length win in the six-furlong I’m Smokin on August 31 at Del Mar. Cecil said the Square Eddie colt shipped in well to Belmont from California as he readies for the 147th running of the Champagne, a “Win and You’re In” qualifier for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on November 2 at Churchill Downs.

“He’s always been mature for his age, that’s why we ran him in a stakes the first time out,” Cecil said. “He handled it better than I could have hoped. But he’s flown before. He was in Florida getting ready for 2-year-old sales but we scratched him out of those and kept him. He’s a pretty smart horse.”

Not selling the California-bred could lead to big things. Listing will take aim at the one-turn mile, which his conditioner said better suits his skill set.

“We wanted to take a shot with him,” Cecil said. “It was a choice between coming here or Kentucky, and I preferred the one turn for now. I think going from six [furlongs] to two turns is probably a little too much, so that’s why we chose this race.”

Listing drew post 6 in the 10-horse field. At 15-1 on the morning line, he will be ridden by Mario Gutierrez.

“He drew the rail the first time out, which can be the toughest place you can be, and he handled it very well,” Cecil said. “He has some speed, but I don’t expect him to be on the lead. I think he’ll be a bit off the pace.”

The Champagne has seen some of racing’s all-time greats earn a trip to the winner’s circle, including Triple Crown winners Seattle Slew and Count Fleet, as well as Hall of Famers Alydar, Spectacular Bid, Easy Goer, Riva Ridge and Buckpasser among others. A part of the "Road to the Kentucky Derby" series, the Champagne awards the top-four finishers with a points distribution of 10-4-2-1 towards the 2019 Run for the Roses.

“The hardest thing with all these 2-year-olds is that we don’t know how good they are, but this time of year, it’s hard to say,” Cecil said. “It’s time to test them out a little bit. It’s a very prestigious race and it would be nice to do well in it. We’re one race at a time, but he’s done nothing wrong so far. This is a test to see where we fit. We can always go back down after, if we need to.”

Cecil has registered 41 graded stakes wins since earning his first with Sandtrip in 1996 and is looking for his first career graded stakes victory at a NYRA track.

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Monette set for U.S. debut in Monday’s G3 Matron

Madaket Stable’s European stakes winner Monette will make her North American debut for trainer Graham Motion in Monday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Matron, featuring a full field of 2-year-old fillies going six furlongs on the turf at Belmont.

A French-bred daughter of Cockney Rebel, Monette owns a pair of wins and three seconds in France, including a neck victory in the Criterium du Bequet on July 31 at La Teste Buch. She was purchased privately following that effort. Since settling in at Motion’s Fair Hill base in Maryland, she’s recorded four breezes over the Tapeta training track, including a five-furlong work in 1:01.40 last Saturday.

“She’s done everything nicely since she’s been here,” said Motion. “She’s been very workmanlike in everything. We kind of gave her a bit of time just to get adjusted when she first came over, but since we’ve gotten her in training, she hasn’t missed a beat.”

Motion said her connections toyed with stretching her out to 1 1/16 miles in the Grade 2 Jessamine at Keeneland before opting to focus instead on the Matron’s six-furlong distance, her furthest distance in six starts this year.

“Coming off of what she’s been doing in Europe, it was a more logical step to keep her sprinting for now,” he said.

Monette will be ridden in the Matron by Jose Ortiz from the outside post 12.

Repole Stable’s Guacamole will make the switch to grass for trainer Todd Pletcher following a lackluster 11th-place finish after leading the early pace in the Grade 1 Spinaway on September 1 at Saratoga. Earlier in the meet, the Flat Out filly was placed first in her debut in an off-the-turf maiden special weight on July 26 before finishing third in the Grade 2 Adirondack 16 days later.

Also entered in the Matron are Jaded Lady, Into the South, Egoli, Entirely, Tradeable, Malibu Mischief, Lonely Road, Questionoftheday, Jazzy J, and Dragic, who is also cross-entered in Sunday’s Futurity.

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Hi Happy aims to get back on track in G2 Knickerbocker

Scratching out of the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic on September 29, La Providencia’s multiple graded stakes winner Hi Happy will now headline the Grade 2, $200,000 Knickerbocker on Monday’s Columbus Day holiday card at Belmont.

A 7-year-old Argentina-bred son of Pure Prize, Hi Happy posted back-to-back graded stakes wins in the Grade 2 Pan American on March 31 at Gulfstream Park and the Grade 1 Man o’ War on May 12 at Belmont. He was third in the Grade 1 Manhattan before running a disappointing sixth in the Grade 2 Bowling Green at Saratoga and fourth in the Grade 1 Sword Dancer on August 25 at the Spa.

Taken out of the Turf Classic due to the yielding turf condition last weekend, trainer Todd Pletcher said he is hoping to get Hi Happy back on track in the Knickerbocker.

“We’re hoping for some firmer turf conditions,” said Pletcher. “It was a little too soft in the Joe Hirsch and a mile and an eighth might be a tick shorter than the optimal distance for him, but I think he’s versatile enough that if the ground is right, he can compete in any race from a mile and an eighth to a mile and a half. He’s probably best going a mile and a quarter plus, but we’ve had to make some adjustments because of the weather and this might be our best option.”

Hi Happy will depart from post 7 with Luis Saez aboard.

Winning an allowance race at Belmont only 11 days ago, multiple graded stakes winner Blacktype will look to defend his title in the Knickerbocker since winning last year for Jump Sucker Stable and trainer Christophe Clement.

Starting the year with a fifth-place finish in an allowance race on April 8 at Keeneland, Blacktype finished seventh in the Grade 3 Fort Marcy. Picking up an allowance win on July 5 at Belmont, the 7-year-old finished fifth in the Fasig-Tipton Lure on August 11 at Saratoga in her second to last start.

“He won very well the other day on softer turf,” said Clement. “We’re really wheeling him right back and he looks good. I think it’s fun race and we can reassess on Sunday morning to see if the horse is doing well and go for it.”

Blacktype will be ridden by Joel Rosario from post 4.

Rounding out the field is Revved Up, Night Prowler, Aquaphobia, Secret Passage, and Inspector Lynley.

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Giveaway sale, ‘Breakfast at Belmont’ highlight October Racing Festival events

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) will provide an opportunity for fans to secure a favorite track promotional item when it hosts a premium giveaway sale at Belmont Park on Saturday.

A selection of premium giveaway items from the Saratoga Race Course meet including the 2018 Saratoga baseball cap, windbreaker, umbrella and a mix of previous meet giveaway items, will be available for purchase at the Secretariat mural in the grandstand from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Items will range in price from $2 to $5.

Also, on Saturday, the ‘Breakfast at Belmont’ program returns. Hosted by NYRA TV analyst and handicapper Anthony Stabile and Michele Velasquez, daughter of Hall of Fame jockey Jorge Velasquez, the Breakfast at Belmont program gives attendees the opportunity to enjoy a great breakfast buffet selection in the Belmont Café located trackside on the first floor of the Belmont Clubhouse, while watching thoroughbreds train on Belmont Park's iconic 1 ½-mile main track.

There will also be a starting gate and paddock show demonstration. After breakfast, guests are invited to take a free tram tour through Belmont Park's backstretch area weather permitting.

Free to attend with no charge for parking, the Breakfast at Belmont program begins at 8 a.m. and concludes at 9:30 a.m.. The optional quick-service breakfast buffet includes coffee, tea, pastries and juices. Following the conclusion of the program the facility will be cleared. Patrons who wish to attend the afternoon's races will be charged admission after re-entering when gates open at 11 a.m. The Breakfast at Belmont program will also be offered on Sunday, September 29, and the weekends of October 6-7 and October 20-21.

Family Fun Day will also take place on Saturday from 12-4 p.m. in the backyard with activities for children and families including a rock wall, inflatable games, a reptile show, face painting and more.