Gunmetal seeks rebound in G2 Amsterdam pres. by Albany Med Health System

CHC, Inc. and WinStar Farm’s Gunmetal will look to return to winning form in Friday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Amsterdam presented by Albany Med Health System, a 6 1/2-furlong sprint for sophomores, at Saratoga Race Course.

Trained by dual Eclipse Award-winner Brad Cox, the son of Gun Runner was last seen finishing last-of-10 in the seven-furlong Grade 1 Woody Stephens presented by Mohegan Sun won by stablemate Patch Adams on June 7 here. The result came after he hit the gate and traveled in sixth through the half-mile before failing to respond in the stretch and finishing at the back of a tightly-bunched group at the finish.

Cox said he preferred Gunmetal stay at Saratoga instead of shipping to Monmouth for the six-furlong Jersey Shore on Friday.

“He’s doing well and he didn’t get quite as good of a result as we were looking for in the Woody Stephens,” Cox said. “He came out of it good and I had him entered in the race at Monmouth yesterday. We drew the rail, and we thought we’d just wait and run him out of his own stall.”

Gunmetal flashed his talents earning a 96 Beyer Speed Figure in his December debut at Fair Grounds Race Course, where he graduated by 1 1/4 lengths with a pace-pressing trip engineered by Florent Geroux in a six-furlong maiden tilt. He followed with a prominent third to returning rivals Gate to Wire and Macho Music in the Listed Swale in February at Gulfstream Park ahead of a 3 3/4-length score in an optional claiming tilt in April at Keeneland that third-place finisher Retribution exited to win the Listed Chick Lang at Pimlico Race Course.

The chestnut colt has worked five times at Saratoga since his Woody Stephens effort, most recently covering a half-mile in 49.77 seconds over the main track on Friday.

“He had a good breeze,” Cox said. “He was very impressive in his first race and in his second start, he probably sat too close to a fast pace. His third race was really good there at Keeneland, so we zeroed in on the Woody Stephens last time. He ran OK there, it just wasn’t the result we were looking for.”

A $410,000 purchase at the 2023 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Gunmetal is out of the dual stakes-placed Speightstown mare Classy Dancer. His third dam, Tizso, is a full-sister to dual Breeders’ Cup Classic-winner Tiznow, and produced Grade 1-winner and sire Paynter.

Luis Saez rides from post 6.

Gunmetal is one of several entrants exiting the Woody Stephens, and will be joined by fifth-place finisher T Kraft [post 4, Jose Lezcano] for Hall of Fame conditioner Bill Mott.

LRE Racing’s stakes-winning son of Connect entered the Woody Stephens on a three-race win streak that was capped by a neck win in the six-furlong Jimmy Winkfield in March at Aqueduct Racetrack.

T Kraft attempted seven furlongs for the first time in the Stephens, where he tracked in fourth and improved to third position approaching the turn, but was outrun and finished six lengths back of Patch Adams.

“He’s doing OK. He’s one that doesn’t wow you when he’s working, so we’ll just see how he does in the afternoon,” Mott said.

T Kraft, whose other wins were a sixth-out graduation and a 1 1/4-length optional claiming win this winter at Aqueduct, was a $110,000 purchase at the 2023 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. He is out of the Johannesburg mare Margarita Friday, who also produced multiple graded/group stakes-winning multimillionaire Straight No Chaser.

Steep opposition will be provided by Mark Fletcher Taylor, Daniel Walters and trainer Rohan Crichton’s Macho Music [post 1, Irad Ortiz, Jr.], the lone graded stakes-winner in the field.

The Maclean’s Music bay was last seen finishing a pacesetting seventh in the Stephens, where he carved out splits of 22.11 seconds and 44.40 under Hall of Famer Javier Castellano before weakening heading into the stretch. The speedy colt’s pacesetting tactics proved successful two starts back when wiring the Grade 2 Pat Day Mile on May 3 at Churchill Downs to provide Crichton his first graded stakes win.

The Pat Day Mile win produced a 97 Beyer, and came on the heels of an 11 1/4-length trouncing against fellow Florida-breds in the OBS Sophomore in March at Tampa Bay Downs. He cuts back to less than seven furlongs for the first time since a fourth-place finish in the six-furlong Bowman Mill in October at Keeneland.

Juddmonte’s Kentucky homebred Garamond [post 2, Flavien Prat] cuts back to sprinting off a last-of-6 finish as the heavy favorite in the Listed NYRA Bets Pegasus traveling 1 1/16 miles on June 14 at Monmouth Park.

Trained by five-time Eclipse Award-winner Chad Brown, Garamond earned a field-best 99 Beyer for a sharp one-mile optional claiming score two starts back on April 27 at Aqueduct Racetrack, setting a pressured pace under returning rider Flavien Prat before kicking clear into the stretch and drawing off to the 3 1/4-length victory.

The son of Uncle Mo won his lone start at Friday’s distance, a debut 1 3/4-length graduation in January at Tampa. His second dam, the Hennessy mare Special Duty, was the European Champion 2-Year-Old Filly in 2009.

Valene Farms’ Smoken Wicked [post 3, Brian Hernandez, Jr.] is Grade 2-placed over the Spa main track after finishing third in last year’s Saratoga Special for trainer Dallas Stewart.

The chestnut son of Bobby’s Wicked One was last seen finishing a hard-trying second in the Listed Maxfield on June 29 at Churchill Downs, landing 2 3/4 lengths behind the undefeated Verifire after dueling with that foe through upper stretch.

Smoken Wicked seeks his first win since back-to-back stakes score to close out his juvenile campaign in December against fellow Louisiana-breds in the Louisiana Champions Day Juvenile and Louisiana Futurity just 15 days apart at Fair Grounds.

Completing the field are a pair for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher in Grade 3-placed Gate to Wire [post 5, Dylan Davis] and dual-winner Uncaged [post 8, Kendrick Carmouche], who is also entered in Thursday’s Listed $135,000 Curlin presented by Casamigos here; and last-out Listed Carry Back-winner Mati Gol [post 7, Junior Alvarado] for trainer Victor Barboza, Jr.

The Amsterdam is slated as Race 9 on Friday’s 10-race card. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern. 

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