Following Justify's work, 'all seems good' ahead of Triple Crown bid

by NYRA Press Office

Unbeaten Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner Justify had his final major training session Monday morning at Churchill Downs, working a smooth five-eighths of a mile in 1:01.40 five days before he tries to make history in the 150th Grade 1, $1.5 million Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets.

The Churchill Downs clockers caught Justify cruising through splits of 12 4/5 seconds for an eighth, 24 4/5 for the quarter-mile, 37 for three-eighths and the half-mile in 48 4/5, galloping out six furlongs in 1:13 3/5 and seven-eighths in 1:27 1/5 under work Martin Garcia.

"He went a little quick last time, so I wanted to go three-quarters with him," trainer Bob Baffert said, referencing a half-mile work a week earlier in 46 4/5 seconds. "I think he went off in 13, 12 and 4/5, whatever, just kept him in hand the whole way and let him gallop out seven-eighths. It went smooth. He relaxed nice. Last time he was a little bit fresh I think, and he really wanted to do a little bit more. But he came back and Martin was happy with him. He said he didn't take a deep breath. All seems good."

Baffert, who trained American Pharoah in 2015 to be the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years, is seeking to join "Sunny Jim" Fitzsimmons as the only ones in history to train two Triple Crown winners. Fitzsimmons trained father and son Gallant Fox (1930) and Omaha (1935) to sweeps of the Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes. Ben Jones trained 1941 Triple Crown hero Whirlaway and was the trainer of record when eventual Triple Crown winner Citation won the 1948 Derby. However, Citation ran back in the Preakness and Belmont with Jones' son, Jimmy, back as his trainer.

The 5-for-5 Justify would be the first unraced 2-year-old to win the Triple Crown, already being the only one to win the first two legs. He also could give a third Belmont Stakes victory to WinStar Farm, which won in 2010 with Drosselmeyer and in 2016 with Creator. WinStar owns Justify with China Horse Club, Starlight Racing and Head of Plains Partners.

"Let's see if he can do it," Baffert said. "He came out of nowhere, and now he's picking up steam. People say, 'Oh, he's so beautiful. What a beautiful horse.' He's become a rock star, like Pharoah, so let's see if he can do it."

Even if Justify is the best horse, Baffert said he still needs racing luck in the Belmont.

"He has to break well," he said. "I remember Pharoah was in the gate and he stepped back right when it opened, and he broke about a length off. He [Victor Espinoza] hustled him immediately, but that could have been bad. He could have stumbled or somebody could have cut him off. I always worry about the break. The break is so important. After that, you have to let it happen. I feel good that he's doing well. He looks great. Physically, he looks healthy. He's moving well. That's all you can ask for.

"He's a seasoned horse now. He's had those five races. I can just tell he's more professional. He's been shipped around, been in some tough fights, handles it well. I like our spot. He's basically just run himself into shape."

Immediately after his heralded stablemate's work, Restoring Hope had his final major preparation for the Belmont Stakes, working three-quarters of a mile in 1:13 under jockey Florent Geroux, who will ride him in New York. The Churchill clockers timed his splits in 12 3/5, 24 2/5, 36 1/5, 48 2/4, 1:00 1/5 and out seven-eighths in 1:26 2/5.

"He worked really well," Baffert said. "He always works well. He's a really good work horse. He went a little bit faster, but I wanted to do a little bit more with him because he hasn't run in a while. So we let him work a little harder, but he handled it well."

Owned by Gary and Mary West, Restoring Hope finished third in Aqueduct's Grade 2 Wood Memorial, then was 12th in the Grade 3 Pat Day Mile on the Derby undercard.

"His Wood, he was really green for that race," Baffert said. "He was off and on, then at the end he started kicking back on again. He's had a few races now. The Pat Day Mile was sort of a disaster. He's just one-paced. I see him up there, he'll be forwardly placed, that's where he needs to be. 'Flo' has worked him now, he knows him really well.

"He's well bred. He's as good as the majority in there, I think. He ran well in California. I've always thought he was a really top horse. I really thought he was a Derby horse. Then we all thought, Maybe he's a Belmont horse. I was going to run him on the Preakness undercard [in the Sir Barton], but I ran Ax Man instead. I didn't want to run those two together, so we'll see what he does."

Baffert is scheduled to throw out the ceremonial first pitch before Tuesday night's New York Mets game with the Baltimore Orioles at Citi Field, with the Belmont post-position draw before the game.

"I threw at Dodger Stadium," he said of being recognized for American Pharoah's Triple Crown. "I could have hit a bird, I threw it pretty high. I asked [wife] Jill, 'How was that?' She goes, 'It was good, for a girl.' When you pass 60, you don't feel the pressure. When I was younger, I felt, 'Don't bounce it.' You don't want to bounce it, that's the worst you can do."

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Haggas barn hoping Call To Mind carries The Queen's colors to victory in G2 Belmont Gold Cup

Racing fans at Belmont Park on Friday will be treated to a rare sight at American racetracks: the purple-and-scarlet colors of Her Majesty, The Queen.

Call To Mind, a 4-year-old owned and bred by Elizabeth II, figures prominently in the Grade 2, $400,000 Belmont Gold Cup Invitational, which will be contested at two miles on the Widener turf course. Trained by William Haggas, Call To Mind won the 2017 listed Goodwood Revival March Stakes and has placed in a pair of Group 2 events, including a third in his most recent outing, the Yorkshire Cup on May 18 at York.

Although Call To Mind has never competed at two miles before, his connections are confident he will relish the Belmont Gold Cup's distance. His four most recent starts have come at distances ranging from 1 ½ to 1 7/8 miles.

"He went very well at York, beaten by quite a good horse of [John] Gosden's called Stradivarius, who looks pretty smart," said Haggas' assistant Harry Eustace, who arrived from England last night. "We just felt that two miles will be his optimum trip. There wasn't something for him until after Ascot. [NYRA Senior Vice President of Racing Operations Martin] Panza has done a good job putting on a race like this for decent money. It seemed like a good fit for him, and two miles should suit him well."

While some Europeans struggle to adapt to the North American style of racing, Eustace believes Call To Mind will find himself at home going two miles over Belmont's expansive turf course.

"I know from friends who took horses to Del Mar [for the 2017 Breeders' Cup] that the draw and start is key, but going two miles it is slightly less of an issue," said Eustace. "They all arrive fit, so it's mostly about how they take the journey [to the United States]. He seems to have taken it really well. That's the main thing."

Eustace says Haggas typically trains eight to 10 horses for Queen Elizabeth II.

"We have a mixture of older horses and some nice 2-year-olds," said Eustace. "The boss is very proud of the fact he trains for The Queen. We're very privileged to train for Her Majesty. She is very passionate about her horses and racing. She's very knowledgeable about her breeding and loves racing and horses as an animal, and, for her, they go hand in hand. Winning the [Belmont Gold Cup] would be very exciting, the day before the Triple Crown race. Winning on the big stage is great, but to do so for Her Majesty would be a massive thrill."

Eustace is familiar with Belmont Park, having worked for Christophe Clement from 2014-17 and was present when Clement-trained Tonalist won the 2014 Belmont Stakes over California Chrome.

"I was lucky enough to be here when California Chrome was going for his Triple Crown bid," said Eustace. "I know what sort of hype comes with it and the buzz and the atmosphere. It's great to be a part of it, especially bringing a horse over for Her Majesty."

Coincidentally, Clement trained for The Queen at various times between 1999 and 2014, winning the 2000 Grade 3 De La Rose at Gulfstream Park. The Queen's most recent North American victory came in a Tampa Bay Downs allowance in 2008. Dartmouth, trained overseas by Sir Michael Stoute, carried the Queen's colors to a second-place finish in the 2016 Grade 1 Canadian International at Woodbine.

Call To Mind jogged twice around the sloppy Belmont main track on Monday. The colt likely will gallop on the main track on Tuesday. Call To Mind and fellow Belmont Gold Cup entrant Prince of Arran have permission to gallop on the turf course at 9 a.m. on Wednesday.

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2017 Belmont hero Tapwrit in good form after return, Suburban possible; G1 Belmont contenders Noble Indy, Vino Rosso gallop

Tapwrit, winner of the 2017 Belmont Stakes, emerged from his third-place finish in an optional claiming race on Sunday in good form, according to trainer Todd Pletcher. The 4-year-old gray, coming off a 10-month layoff, matched strides with Hoffenheim almost the entire length of the stretch, but the embattled duo was overtaken late by favored Timeline, who won by 1 ¼ lengths.

"I thought he came out of it very well," said Pletcher of Tapwrit, whose previous start resulted in a fourth-place finish in the Grade 1 Travers last summer. "We're pleased with his effort. We felt like he might need a race to move him forward after a 10-month layoff, but thought he got an effort we were looking for and now we can move on to bigger and better things.

"He looks good this morning."

Pletcher said that if all goes well, the Grade 2, $700,000 Suburban at 1 ¼ miles on July 7 remains under consideration.

"If he trains accordingly, we'll take a look at that," he said.

The trainer reported that Noble Indy and Vino Rosso, his pair of contenders for the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes, continued to train forwardly for their engagement with Triple Crown hopeful Justify and seven others in Saturday's race.

"Both horses just galloped on the training track this morning," he said. "Tomorrow, they might go to the main track to gallop. We'll just play it by ear on the track conditions."

Should either win, Pletcher would become the first trainer since D. Wayne Lukas, who won three straight Belmonts from 1994-96, to fashion back-to-back victories in the "Test of the Champion." Woody Stephens won five straight from 1982-86; Lucien Lauren won two in a row with Riva Ridge (1972) and Triple Crown winner Secretariat (1973), and "Sunny Jim" Fitzsimmons, who won six overall, had consecutive training wins with Triple Crown winner Omaha (1935) and Granville (1936).

In the 1800s, David McDaniel, Frank McCabe, James Rowe, Sam Hildreth and R. W. Walden had two straight wins among their Belmont victories.

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Belmont-bound Tenfold is a family affair for Winchell Thoroughbreds

David Fiske has been declaring for months that Winchell Thoroughbreds' Preakness Stakes third-place finisher Tenfold has the best pedigree for the 1 1/2-mile Belmont Stakes of any horse in this 3-year-old crop.

"I guess it's put up or shut up," Fiske, Winchell Thoroughbreds' long-time racing and bloodstock manager, said recently with a laugh. "I've been telling people there's no better-bred Belmont horse in the crop, so we'll see if breeding means anything."

Tenfold is a son of two-time Horse of the Year Curlin, who lost the 2007 Belmont Stakes by inches to the filly Rags to Riches, and is out of a mare by Tapit, who has sired three of the past four Belmont Stakes winners. The year Tapit "missed" in that skein was 2015, when Triple Crown winner American Pharoah beat the Tapit-sired runner-up Frosted. 

Curlin had a Belmont Stakes winner in his first crop at stud in 2013 victor Palace Malice, along with third-place finisher Keen Ice in 2015 and 2017 runner-up Irish War Cry.

The Winchell family campaigned Tapit and still retain 50-percent ownership. Because one can never have too many horses by the world's leading sire - even if you already have a dozen of his daughters and breed another six to eight mares a year to him -Temptress was bought as a yearling for $190,000. She never ran in a stakes and was retired after winning an allowance race, but the Winchell operation saw enough to put Temptress in their broodmare band and send her to Curlin.

"At one point we tried to buy part of Curlin," Fiske said. "We thought he had a lot of upside, so we figured, shoot, if we were willing to buy part of him, I guess we'd be willing to breed to him. So Temptress' number came up."

Fiske said expectations for Tenfold were "the same as all of our foals: When they're born, they're all Derby winners ... until they prove that they're not.

"I don't know if there's a 3-year-old around better bred for the Belmont than he is. He's by a horse that lost the Belmont by a nostril and is one of the top sires in the country, and he's out of a mare who is by arguably the best Belmont sire ever."

Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen trains Tenfold and also trained his parents.

"I'm extremely excited about that, and have been," he said. "Temptress was a mare that didn't do as well as she should have on the racetrack over an unfortunate foot injury. But she was just absolutely gorgeous. And with Winchell owning the mare, you can't wait until she has a baby. And then this is what she has. She was just like him: big, beautiful and elegant."

Asmussen still feels the sting of Curlin's Belmont defeat.

"Can't believe he got beat," he said recently. "Watching the replay, I keep waiting for him to win. It was meant to be, just like Creator was meant to be."

Nine years later, Asmussen won the Belmont with WinStar Farm's Creator (by Tapit) by a nose.

Like Curlin, Tenfold did not race at 2. He won his first two starts at Oaklawn Park before finishing fifth in the Arkansas Derby, a race Curlin won before finishing third in the Kentucky Derby and winning the Preakness. After the Arkansas Derby, Tenfold was pointed to the Preakness, which he lost by a total of three-quarters of a length, with an ultimate goal of the Belmont Stakes.

Tenfold galloped once around the Churchill Downs oval Monday morning. Tenfold and the other Asmussen horses participating in the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival will leave Churchill Downs in late morning Tuesday for Louisville International Airport, with their Tex Sutton equine flight scheduled to arrive at Long Island MacArthur Airport at 2:15 p.m.

Albaugh Family Stables' Free Drop Billy had a walk day after working five-eighths of a mile in 59 1/5 seconds Sunday. Trainer Dale Romans said the colt will train Tuesday and very early Wednesday before flying to New York, with that flight scheduled to arrive at MacArthur at 12:45 p.m.

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Sadler's Joy looks to add G1 Woodford Reserve Manhattan to resume

Trainer Tom Albertrani is hopeful Sadler's Joy is ready to add another Grade 1 victory to his resume in the Grade 1, $1 million Woodford Reserve Manhattan at the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival on Saturday.

Winner of the Grade 1 Sword Dancer Invitational at Saratoga last year with an eye-catching run to the wire, the 5-year-old chestnut son of Kitten's Joy comes into the 146th running of the 1 ¼-mile turf race off a close-call second in the Grade 1 Man o' War at 1 3/8-miles at Belmont on May 15.

"He's been very consistent," said Albertrani of the Woodslane Farm color-bearer, who was a fast-closing runner up to Hi Happy in the Man o' War, beaten a half-length. "In the Man o' War, he just needed a little extra ground to get up in time. He likes to hang out the back and it's important he get a well-timed ride. He has a tremendous turn of foot and when he starts to kick in, he makes up a lot of ground."

Sadler's Joy is 6-2-3 from 17 starts with earnings of $1.48 million and has competed exclusively in graded-stakes events the past two seasons. He was third in the Manhattan last year, closing from last to finish third, beaten 1 ½ lengths, under Hall of Famer Mike Smith.

"Mike was riding him for the first time, and he was a little upset thinking he could have won that race had he moved a little earlier," said Albertrani. "This race is 1 ¼ miles, which may not be his best, but a lot depends on how the race sets up for him. The more pace, the better."

While Julien Leparoux has ridden Sadler's Joy in the majority of his races since January 2017, Javier Castellano, who is 2-0-1 aboard him in four starts, with one fourth, has the call on Saturday.

"We just wanted to make a change," said Albertrani.

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Mills stepping up in G2 Brooklyn Invitational

Trainer David Donk will be saddling a familiar face in Saturday's Grade 2, $400,000 Brooklyn Invitational in 8-year-old Mills, who will be making his 46th career start. The 1 ½-mile Brooklyn will mark only the second graded stakes appearance of Mills' career, having finished seventh in the 2013 edition of the Grade 1 Jamaica.

"I know I'm biting off a little more than we can chew here; it's coming up a very competitive race with Hard Study and Hoppertunity," said Donk, who claimed the gelded son of Any Given Saturday for $40,000 on behalf of Big Hands Stables in January.

"We were looking for horses for a new client," he added. "The idea was to run him back for $40,000, but you're limited on opportunities. I was asked to run him in a $100,000 [1 ¼-mile] claimer in January, and he finished second to a really good horse [Harlan Punch]. They had a two-turn race in the Claiming Crown on March 31 that he was eligible for [$90,000 Mr. Sinatra] and he was a good second again [to Control Group]."

Mills began his career in the care of Barclay Tagg, and also spent time in the barns of Hall of Famer Bill Mott, David Jacobson, Jeremiah Englehart, Rudy Rodriguez and most recently, Bruce Levine.

"I know he's been in some great hands," said Donk. "He's in good form and he's a happy horse. At eight years old - he's been a pretty sound horse over the years."

Given some time off after the Mr. Sinatra, Mills returned to training and most recently breezed six furlongs in 1:15.66 on May 30.

"I think he'll appreciate going long," said Donk. "He's had a couple of good works, he's smart and classy - we'll be aggressive here and then decide what we're going to do for the summer."

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One Liner has chance to give Pletcher third Grade 1 Met Mile victory

Already a two-time winner, trainer Todd Pletcher looks to complete a personal hat trick when he sends out One Liner for the Grade 1, $1.2 million Runhappy Metropolitan Handicap on Saturday's Belmont Stakes undercard.

Pletcher, who won the Met Mile with Palace Malice in 2014 and Quality Road in 2010, threw One Liner into this year's mix following a half-mile workout in 50.87 seconds June 1 over Belmont Park's main track.

It was the only work for WinStar Farm, China Horse Club International, Head of Plains Partners and SF Racing's One Liner since dead-heating for second behind Irish War Cry in the Grade 3 Pimlico Special May 18.

"We were keeping an eye on it and it seemed like he breezed well," Pletcher said. "We feel like the turnback in distance might suit him, so we decided to go ahead and give it a shot."

In the Pimlico Special, contested over 1 3/16 miles on a sloppy, sealed track at Pimlico Race Course, One Liner chased the front-running winner along the inside and was put to task through the lane, holding on to hit the wire together with fellow Grade 3 winner Untrapped.

"I thought he ran a solid race," Pletcher said. "He just needed Irish War Cry to come back a little bit and he didn't, but I thought he made a good account of himself. They were tough conditions, but he handled it well."

Never worse than third in six starts, One Liner opened his career with three straight wins capped by the Grade 3 Southwest in February 2017 before going to the sidelines. He went nearly a year between races, returning to run third February 9 in a seven-furlong optional claiming allowance at Gulfstream Park, five lengths behind runner-up Mind Your Biscuits, also exiting a layoff.

One Liner preceded the Pimlico Special with a front-running win as the favorite in a 1 1/16-mile optional claiming allowance April 21 at Keeneland. As of Monday morning, Pletcher was waiting to settle on a rider for the Met Mile. Entries will be taken and post positions drawn on Tuesday.

"He's been versatile enough. I think he's shown that he can run well at one turn and two. We just felt like it was an opportunity for him to give it a try," Pletcher said. "We were kind of looking at the Met Mile or the [Grade 1] Stephen Foster [June 16 at Churchill Downs] and we felt like he's here, he's doing well at the moment and sometimes you get a big effort on the cutback.

"The Met Mile is a prestigious race and he's a horse that has some stallion potential," he added. "A race like that would hopefully take it to another level."