Grade 1-winners Zulu Kingdom, Salamis give Brown strong chance in G3 Poker

The Grade 1-winning pair of Zulu Kingdom and Salamis give five-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown a strong chance in Sunday’s Grade 3, $300,000 Poker, a one-mile inner turf test for older horses on Closing Day of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course.

The Poker is slated as Race 4 and is co-featured with the Grade 3, $200,000 Soaring Softly in Race 8 for Sunday’s 11-race card, Closing Day of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival. First post is 12:05 p.m. Eastern.

Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb, William Strauss and Michael Caruso’s dual Grade 1-winner Zulu Kingdom impressed last-out with a wire-to-wire victory in the Grade 1 Maker’s Mark Mile on April 10 at Keeneland, digging in gamely in the final eighth to hold off One Stripe and win by three-quarter lengths. One Stripe is entered in the Grade 1, $1 million Resorts World Casino Manhattan – a “Win and You’re In” for the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf – on Saturday here.

The win came off an eight-month layoff dating to the Grade 2 National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame in August here when Zulu Kingdom crossed the wire first but was disqualified to fourth for interference in the first turn.

Brown said Zulu Kingdom has progressed well in his training since recovering from a foot issue that followed the Maker’s Mark Mile. He most recently worked a half-mile in 50 seconds flat on Saturday over the Spa’s Oklahoma dirt training track.

“I missed a little time with him with a quarter crack, but he’s come back and worked two weeks in a row,” Brown said. “He’s a super talented horse.”

The consistent son of Ten Sovereigns has won 7-of-9 lifetime starts, including Spa success as a juvenile in the Grade 3 With Anticipation ahead of a win in the Grade 2 Pilgrim at Belmont at the Big A. He had a rare misfire when seventh in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar, but, like this year, returned with aplomb to win at the Grade 1 level, taking the American Turf by 1 1/4 lengths last May. He then made the trek back to Saratoga to win the Grade 3 Manila ahead of the Hall of Fame effort.

Zulu Kingdom, who has crossed the finish line first in 4-of-5 starts at Sunday’s distance, began his career in France with a winning debut for conditioner Andre Fabre before moving to the Brown barn. Bred in Ireland by Ecurie Peregrine SAS, he is out of the Smart Strike mare Zindziswa.

Flavien Prat rides from post 2.

Juddmonte’s Kentucky homebred Salamis [post 7, Many Franco] makes his 4-year-old debut off a more than six-month layoff dating to a successful Grade 1 bow in Del Mar’s nine-furlong Hollywood Derby on November 29. There, he stalked in sixth-of-8 under Umberto Rispoli and made a late move to fly home just in time and land the neck victory over Tom’s Magic.

The Hollywood Derby capped a productive sophomore campaign for the son of Speightstown, adding to previous stakes success in New York in the one-mile Gio Ponti in September at Belmont at the Big A. Two of the colt’s three victories have come at Sunday’s distance, but Brown said Salamis may appreciate more ground – as he had at Del Mar – going forward.

“It’s his first start of the year, and a mile might be a touch short for him, but he’s got a good turn of foot and from three to four, this horse is doing what you want him to do,” Brown said. “He’s filled out a bit and he was always a talented horse, but had a little maturing to do physically. I like what I see.”

Salamis is from a familiar bloodline for Brown. He trained Salamis’ dam, Antonoe, to a Grade 1 victory in the Just a Game at Belmont Park in 2017, and also trains the colt’s half-sister Segesta, a dual Grade 1-winner in her own right. Segesta will try to follow in her mother’s footsteps as she is entered in the Just a Game presented by Resolute Racing on Saturday here.

Opposition will be provided by a pair of runners for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, who sends out Capitol Hill – a familiar rival of both Brown runners – and the stakes-debuting Pass the Hat.

Tranquility Lake Farms’ Capitol Hill [post 4, Junior Alvarado] has finished second to Zulu Kingdom and Salamis in the past year. He secured the minor awards in the Manila three quarter-lengths back of the former, and in the Gio Ponti 1 1/4 lengths back of the latter as part of a 9-2-2-0 campaign that featured a second-out maiden win at Tampa Bay Downs in March and an allowance win facing elders on November 1 at Belmont at the Big A.

Capitol Hill, who enters from a half-length second-level allowance score going this distance in his seasonal bow on April 12 at Keeneland, is a homebred for the family of Pam and the late Marty Wygod, out of the winning Smart Strike mare Meadowsweet, who also produced 2024 Grade 2 Wood Memorial presented by Resorts World Casino winner Resilience for these same connections.

Pin Oak Stud’s Pass the Hat [post 5, John Velazquez] arrives from a 1 1/2-length optional claiming conquest over this distance on April 18 at Aqueduct, pouncing from just off the pace for his second win in his last three outings.

The 5-year-old son of Collected graduated at second asking sprinting seven furlongs when in the care of conditioner Tom Amoss as a juvenile, and made four starts for Mott before finding the winner’s circle at 1 1/16-miles in a January optional-claiming tilt at Gulfstream Park. He was a three-quarter-length fourth in a similar spot going 7 1/2 furlongs on March 28 ahead of his most recent start.

Pass the Hat was a $300,000 purchase at the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling Sale and is out of the unraced Mizzen Mast mare Veronique, dam of stakes-winner and Kentucky stallion Nashville.

Amo Racing USA and Resolute Racing’s Ridari [post 3, Jaime Rodriguez, blinkers ON] makes his second stateside appearance for trainer Miguel Clement after an even third to stablemate Deterministic – also entered in the Manhattan – last out in the Grade 3 Fort Marcy on May 2 at Belmont at the Big A.

The 4-year-old son of Churchill made his first eight outings for trainer Mikel Delzangles, and was privately purchased in October at the Arqana Saint-Cloud Sale. He won the Group 2 Prix Daniel Wildenstein by a nose in October at Longchamp in his final start before moving to the Clement barn.

The dual group stakes-winner is out of the Motivator mare Ridasiyna, who won the Group 1 Prix de l’Opera in 2012.

Completing the field are a pair of runners for trainer David Jacobson in multiple dirt graded stakes-placed Tarantino [post 1, Ricardo Santana, Jr.] and four-time winner Multitask [post 6, Javier Castellano].

Castle Chaos, Over and Ollie, Ignite the Light, Sara’s Shaman and Ambition are entered for the main track-only. 

America’s Day at the Races presents daily coverage and analysis of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course on the networks of FOX Sports. For the complete broadcast schedule, visit https://www.belmontstakes.com/event-info/tv-schedule. 

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