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​Casa Creed set to defend his title in G1 Jaipur

by Keith McCalmont

LRE Racing and JEH Racing Stable’s Casa Creed returns to defend his title against a loaded field of 13 contenders in Saturday’s Grade 1, $400,000 Jaipur, a six-furlong Widener turf test for 3-year-olds and up at Belmont Park.

The Jaipur, which offers a “Win and You’re In” berth to the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint in November at Keeneland, is slated as Race 8 on Saturday’s 13-race card. First post is 11:20 a.m. Eastern.

Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, the 6-year-old Jimmy Creed bay was a 10-1 upset winner of the Jaipur last year, closing from eighth under Junior Alvarado to post a two-length score over stablemate Chewing Gum. 

Casa Creed followed with a third-place effort in the one-mile Grade 1 Fourstardave Handicap in August at Saratoga Race Course and a close fifth in the six-furlong Grade 3 Turf Sprint at Kentucky Downs. He completed his season with an eighth-place finish in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Mile in November at Del Mar.

Casa Creed made his first two starts this season in the Middle East, finishing a close second to recent Group 1 Yasuda Kinen-winner Songline in the Group 3 Turf Sprint Cup in February at King Abdulaziz in Saudi Arabia and a close fifth in the Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint in March on the Dubai World Cup undercard at Meydan.

“He went to Saudi and Dubai and ran well there in an international race. He finished well,” Mott said. 

Casa Creed blitzed a half-mile in 47.88 seconds Sunday over the Belmont dirt training track in company with Grade 1-winner Obligatory, who is entered in Friday’s Grade 2 Bed o’ Roses at Belmont.

“He worked good,” said Mott, who also won the Jaipur with Harp Islet [1989], Elusive Quality [1998] and Around the Cape [2006]. “He went with Obligatory and they worked well. They went right together.”

Luis Saez has the call from post 4.

Trainer Wesley Ward, who won the 2014 Jaipur with Undrafted, will saddle Lael Stables’ Arrest Me Red [post 5, Irad Ortiz, Jr.]. 

The 4-year-old Pioneerof the Nile colt matched a career-best 100 Beyer Speed Figure last out with a 1 3/4-length score in the Grade 2 Turf Sprint on May 6 at Churchill Downs. The effort equaled his figure for a front-running one-length score in the Grade 3 Belmont Turf Sprint Invitational in October. A six-time winner from nine starts, Arrest Me Red has banked $638,500.

R.L. Johnson’s True Valour, who has raced at distances ranging from 5 1/2-furlongs to 1 1/8-miles, seems to have found his niche in turf sprints for trainer Graham Motion.

The 8-year-old Kodiac bay joined Motion’s barn late in 2020 and tried his luck in a pair of graded turf routes, finishing off-the-board in the Grade 1 Turf Classic at Churchill and the Grade 2 Dinner Party at Pimlico.

True Valour then shortened up to 6 1/2-furlongs in November 2020 at Woodbine Racetrack, posting a prominent half-length score in an optional-claimer on Tapeta. 

“It was my racing manager, Jane Buchanan, who said to me, 'we keep trying to stretch this horse out, I wonder if he just wants to sprint,’” recalled Motion. “And she was absolutely right. That win turned our program around with him.”

He finished a close third in the Turf Sprint Championship in November 2020 at the Big A and in January 2021 was second, defeated less than a length, in the Grade 2 Joe Hernandez at Santa Anita. 

True Valour was a close-up sixth under Joel Rosario, defeated 2 1/4-lengths in the Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint in March 2021 at Meydan.

“That was a weird race,” Motion said. “Joel and one other guy chose to stay on the far side and everyone else came to the grandstand side, so he was kind of lost the whole race and was only beaten a couple lengths. I don't blame Joel at all. The six furlong straightaway is a weird race. I don't think it was a bad effort.”

The bay horse returned to action in April at Laurel Park, wiring the 5 1/2-furlong King T. Leatherbury over firm footing. With Feargal Lynch up, True Valour set splits of 21.89 and 44.35 en route to a swift score in 1:02.10. 

“He surprised me that day that he was so sharp,” Motion said. “I didn't anticipate him being on the lead and he did it so nicely. This is the kind of horse we thought he was.”

Motion said True Valour relishes his work and has trained well into the Jaipur.

“He does not act like an 8-year-old. He loves it. He's very active,” Motion said. “I breezed him a couple weeks ago and I told the crew I was going to give him the weekend off. We gave him the first day off and they came back and told me I could not give him another day off. We had to do something with him because he was just so full of himself. He's a really likeable character.”

True Valour will burst from post 3 under Lynch.

La Marca Stable's Scuttlebuzz [post 8, Javier Castellano], a 5-year-old The Factor gelding, went from claim-to-fame last out with a one-length score in the Elusive Quality on April 30 at Belmont while making his stakes debut in his 17th career start.

Trained by Rudy Rodriguez, Scuttlebuzz was claimed for $30,000 out of a winning effort in April 2021 at Aqueduct and has since posted a record of 9-5-1-1 for current connections.

The grey, who posted a bullet five-eighths work in 1:00.09 on May 26 over Big Sandy, garnered a career-best 101 Beyer for his Elusive Quality score.

Scuttlebuzz, bred in the Empire State by Lawrence Goichman, is out of the stakes-placed Elusive Quality mare Elusive Rumour, who also produced the multiple stakes winner Myhartblongstodady [by Scat Daddy].

Rounding out the field is Filo Di Arianna [post 9, Jose Ortiz], a Group 2 winner in Brazil for Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse; the Rusty Arnold-trained Gear Jockey [post 12, Jose Lezcano], who won the Grade 3 Turf Sprint in September at Kentucky Downs; Gregorian Chant [post 13, Joel Rosario], winner of the Grade 3 San Simeon last year at Santa Anita for conditioner Phil D’Amato; multiple graded-stakes winner Change of Control [post 1, Manny Franco] for trainer Michelle Lovell; the Saffie Joseph, Jr. trained multiple stakes winner Chasing Artie [post 11, John Velazquez]; stakes winner Smokin' Jay [post 10, Junior Alvarado] for conditioner Kelsey Danner; stakes winner Whatmakessammyrun [post 7, Flavien Prat] for trainer Jamie Begg; graded-stakes-placed Omaha City [post 2, Marcos Meneses] to be saddled by Amzadali Jehaludi; and three-time winner Greyes Creek [post 6, Tyler Gaffalione], who adds blinkers for conditioner Paulo Lobo.

Saturday's 13-race card features a first post of 11:20 a.m. Eastern with the Belmont Stakes slated as Race 11 with a post time of 6:44 p.m. 

National television coverage of Belmont Stakes Day will begin on FS2, where America’s Day at the Races will air from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. before coverage shifts to CNBC from 3 to 5 p.m. and NBC from 5 to 7p.m. America's Day at the Races will then return to FS2 from 7:15 to 8:30 p.m. For the complete broadcast schedule, visit https://www.nyra.com/belmont/racing/tv-schedule. 

NYRA Bets is the official wagering platform of Belmont Park, and the best way to bet every race of the spring/summer meet. Available to horseplayers nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.