Belmont stakes feature juvenile turfers with BC hopes
There’s no break in the stakes action at Belmont Park following Super Saturday, as Sunday boasts a quartet of juvenile stakes, including a pair of Grade 3, 1 1/16-mile turf races, the Pilgrim and the Miss Grillo.
Entrants in both $100,000 races will put win streaks on the line, as Grade 2 With Anticipation victor State of Play squares off against six colts in the Pilgrim, and P. G. Johnson heroine Alaura Michele takes on nine other fillies in the Miss Grillo.
Campaigned by Team Valor International and trained by H. Graham Motion, State of Play is undefeated, stretching out successfully from a 5 ½-furlong turf maiden victory at Saratoga Race Course on July 27 to take the 1 1/16-mile With Anticipation on September 1. The latter was a Breeders’ Cup Challenge race, guaranteeing the son of War Front a spot in the gate for the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf in November at Churchill Downs.
“He’s done great and everything has gone to plan,” said Motion from his base at Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland . “He’s a straightforward horse and is pretty adaptable. He settled well last time for Ramon [Dominguez]. We already have our ticket to the Breeders’ Cup, and this race was the closest to our home.”
Dominguez controlled the pace aboard State of Play in the With Anticipation and has the return call for Sunday’s race. The pair will leave from post position 6 as the 2-1 morning-line favorite.
Also exiting the With Anticipation is Captain Webb, who finished sixth as the favorite in the field of nine.
“It was a very disappointing performance,” trainer Todd Pletcher said of Captain Webb’s With Anticipation. “He kind of got stuck inside and shuffled back in a paceless race, and he lacked room in the stretch to give his best effort. We’re hoping for a better set-up and a better trip.”
A son of 2007 Breeders’ Cup Turf winner English Channel, whom Pletcher also trained, Captain Webb broke his maiden on July 30 at Saratoga in a 1 1/16-mile turf maiden race. Like his sire, the ridgling is campaigned by James Scatuorchio.
Captain Webb drew the rail for the Pilgrim, the same post position he had in the With Anticipation, and John Velazquez will be back aboard the 7-2 third choice on the morning line.
Stepping into stakes company for the first time in the Pilgrim is Dell Ridge Farm’s Fantastic Song, a son of Lemon Drop Kid who got up just in time under Javier Castellano to break his maiden on August 20 at the Spa. After dropping back to last in the field of 10 for the 1 1/16-mile turf race, Fantastic Song swung five wide into the stretch and dashed home to win by a head.
Fantastic Song drew post 5 and trainer Chad Brown again will give a leg up to Castellano aboard the 5-1 morning-line fourth choice.
Another late-running maiden winner, Shkspeare Shaliyah, will get his first stakes test in the Pilgrim. Sent out by Doodnauth Shivmangal to a solid third-place effort in a turf maiden at Saratoga on August 27, the son of Shakespeare got up by a half-length to win his second start on September 18 at Belmont. Tabbed as the 3-1 morning-line second choice, Shkspeare Shaliyah gets the services of Alex Solis from post 7.
Completing the field in the Pilgrim from the rail out are maiden Knock Rock, fourth in the With Anticipation and third behind Shkspeare Shaliyah in his most recent start; Fox Rules, seventh in the With Anticipation; and Kitten’s Kid, neck winner of a Saratoga turf maiden on September 3.
In the Miss Grillo, Alaura Michele will attempt to move forward off a 2 ¼-length victory in Saratoga ’s P. G. Johnson to collect her first graded stakes win.
After starting her career for trainer Gregory Fox at Churchill Downs and running sixth in a 4 ½-furlong dirt maiden race at Churchill on May 5, Alaura Michele was transferred to the barn of Bill Mott. Sent out to a front-running 4 ¼-length victory going six furlongs on the turf at Belmont in her first start for Mott, she stretched out to 1 1/16 miles and rated nicely to win the August 31 stakes.
“She rated better than I expected and she was good in behind horses,” Mott noted. “She showed what I thought was a nice, explosive kick coming home.”
Sidelined briefly with a virus following the P. G. Johnson, Alaura Michele worked five furlongs at Saratoga on Wednesday, covering the distance in 1:00.68 in a move Mott called “very nice.”
Alaura Michele, who carries the colors of Siena Farm, LLC, will leave from post 3 under Eddie Castro as the 2-1 morning-line favorite.
Slip Along Band, undefeated in two starts, will ship in from Maryland for her first graded stakes try. The daughter of Bowman’s Band broke her maiden over the artificial surface at Presque Isle Downs on July 26, then took the one-mile Junior Champion Stakes over the Monmouth Park turf on September 11.
Kendrick Carmouche comes in to ride Slip Along Band for owner and trainer Michael Pino. She drew post 8 and is the 7-2 second choice.
Stepping up from the maiden ranks is Sweet Cat, victorious in a turf sprint at the Spa on September 1 for owner and trainer Todd Pletcher and attempting to take the next step in Sunday’s Miss Grillo.
“Timing-wise it just worked out,” Pletcher said. “We ran her 5 ½ furlongs at Saratoga not so much because we feel like she’s just a sprinter – she trains like one that will stretch out, so we were just hoping to get her maiden broke and set her up for one of the stakes.”
John Velazquez will ride Sweet Cat, 5-1 on the morning line, from post position 3.
Trainer Gary Contessa will saddle two fillies in the Miss Grillo – Bourbonstreetgirl, third following a wide trip in the P. G. Johnson, and Salsa Mambo, who broke her maiden going seven furlongs on the Belmont turf on September 14.
“Bourbonstreetgirl had a rough trip and I think she’s better than you saw in the P. G. Johnson,” Contessa said. “She’s training fantastic up to this race, and really doing well. I’m very pleased with her and I’m really looking forward to the Miss Grillo. I’d like to get enough points with her to make the Breeders’ Cup.
That would be very important for us.”
While Contessa has designs on the Breeders’ Cup for Bourbonstreetgirl, he is less sure of what kind of filly Salsa Mambo will turn out to be. Second in a 5 ½-furlong maiden race on the main track at Belmont in June, she was ninth when trying turf for the first time on September 4 at Saratoga, then came back to win a seven-furlong turf maiden claiming event at Belmont 10 days later.
“Salsa Mambo, she’s not a bad filly,” Contessa said. “She’s always trained like she has some quality. She had a very good ride and a very good set up last time, and it was maiden $65,000, so who’s to say she can’t win the Miss Grillo? We don’t know how good she is.”
Julien Leparoux has the call aboard Bourbonstreetgirl, 10-1, from post 2, while M.C. Brock will ride Salsa Mambo, 30-1, from the rail.
Completing the field from the rail out in the Miss Grillo are Pure Gossip, fourth in Saratoga’s Ann Clare Stakes; Take It Inside, who broke her maiden on the grass at Delaware Park on September 17; Royal Bonnie, a New York-bred turf maiden winner at the Spa; Mystic Mama, a maiden who was second to Slip Along Band in the Junior Champion Stakes; and Tanglewood Tale, trying grass for the first time after a runaway victory in an off-the-turf maiden even at Saratoga on August 21.
