Belmont: Rockemperor looks to get back to winning ways in Grade 1 Hirsch

By Rick Francis —-

Madaket Stables and Michael Dubb’s Irish-bred colt Rockemperor looks to snap his eight race losing streak when he faces six rivals in the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic contested at the extended route of one mile and a half.

Belmont

Race 7) 1½ Mile. (Turf) Joe Hirsch Turf Classic S. Grade I. Purse $250,000 FOR THREE YEAR OLDS AND UPWARD
Post Time: ( 4:03)/ 3:03/ 2:03/ 1:03

4) Rockemperor (Brown/Ortiz, J.); colt by Irish sire Holy Roman Emperor makes his first start at today’s distance but is primed and ready. Exits a bit of a disappointing third in the G1 Turf Classic at Churchill but his two prior starts, both at the mile and quarter route showed a deep closing late kick, that works to his advantage for the additional quarter mile.

5) Cross Border (Maker/Carmouche); missed by a neck two back in the Bowling Green and was second last out in the G1 Sword Dancer; with a 2020 record of 6 2-3-0 he gets the nod over the two “big” names in this.

3) Channel Maker (Mott/Franco); the first of the “big” names, this 5-year-old by English Channel exits a strong gate-to-wire score in the Sword Dancer but that was his first win in close to two years; hasn’t put back-to-backs together in quite some time.

1) Sadler’s Joy (Albertrani/Castellano); 7-year-old out of Kitten’s Joy took the Bowling Green by a neck but it was that same neck last out that indicated he was a bit washy for the Sword Dance failing to fire and finish forth double-digits out. He has but one win here, along with a couple seconds and SIX thirds.

SELECTIONS: 4, 5, 3, 1