Belmont Park Notes 06/05
NYRA PRESS OFFICE —-
Belmont Park Notes
G1 Preakness winner National Treasure records final breeze for G1 Belmont Stakes
Red Route One logs final work for G1 Belmont Stakes
Saratoga action in the cards for Winchell graded-stakes winners
New York-bred millionaire Cross Border returns to the flat in G2 Belmont Gold Cup
ELMONT, N.Y. – Grade 1 Preakness winner National Treasure put together his final serious preparations for the Grade 1, $1.5 million Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets with a five-furlong breeze Monday over the Belmont Park main track.
Under sunny skies and temperatures in the 60s, National Treasure was amongst the first horses to visit the track following the renovation break. With exercise rider Erick Garcia aboard, the son of Quality Road went five furlongs in 59.55 seconds over the fast main track before galloping out six furlongs in 1:11.20 and seven furlongs in 1:25.20.
Trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, National Treasure has now worked twice over Big Sandy after breezing a half-mile in 50.62 seconds on May 30.
Baffert’s chief assistant Jimmy Barnes was on hand for the work and expressed satisfaction with the move.
“He worked very well this morning,” Barnes said. “It’s a big track and you can find yourself lost out there. Erick did an excellent job working him and now we’re just waiting for the race.”
Owned by SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, Robert Masterson, Stonestreet Stables, Jay Schoenfarber, Waves Edge Capital and Catherine Donovan, National Treasure was fourth in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby prior to his Preakness conquest.
A debut maiden winner in September at Del Mar, National Treasure finished a respective second and third in the American Pharoah at Santa Anita and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Keeneland – both Grade 1 events. He was a $500,000 purchase at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale and is out of the Medaglia d’Oro mare Treasure.
The Belmont Stakes headlines the three-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival that features a total of 16 stakes events from Thursday, June 8 through Saturday, June 10. For additional information on the 2023 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival and details on hospitality offerings, ticket packages and pricing, visit BelmontStakes.com.
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Red Route One logs final work for G1 Belmont Stakes
Winchell Thoroughbreds’ Kentucky homebred Red Route One posted his final work in preparation for the Grade 1, $1.5 million Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets when breezing a half-mile in 50.20 seconds Monday over Belmont Park’s dirt training track.
Trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, the chestnut son of Gun Runner stepped onto the track just after the first renovation break and was walked down part of the stretch before turning back the other way and making his way to the backstretch to begin his exercise. He completed the work under sunny skies with temperatures in the low 60s.
“I thought he went beautiful,” said Toby Sheets, Asmussen’s Belmont-based assistant. “It was nice and fluid and he came back with good energy. I’m very happy with him. We wanted to be out on the track before it got really busy.”
It was the second work Red Route One has posted at Belmont since finishing fourth in the Grade 1 Preakness on May 20 at Pimlico Race Course. He logged a similar half-mile breeze in 50.85 over the Belmont main track on May 29.
Sheets said he has been pleased with the way Red Route One has come along over the past two weeks.
“He’s doing everything right and I have no complaints,” Sheets said.
In the Preakness, Red Route One rated in sixth, six lengths off the moderate pace set by returning rival National Treasure and improved to fourth position by the three-quarters call, but could not reel in the runaway pair of Blazing Sevens and National Treasure as they battled down the stretch to the wire. Red Route One finished 4 3/4 lengths back of the victorious National Treasure, who completed the 1 3/16 miles in a final time of 1:55.12.
Red Route One entered the Preakness from a narrow victory over fellow Belmont Stakes hopeful Tapit Shoes in the nine-furlong Bath House Row on April 22 at Oaklawn Park. He finished second in both the Grade 3 Southwest and Grade 2 Rebel earlier this year at the Hot Springs oval and earned a Grade 1 placing when third in the Breeders’ Futurity in October at Keeneland.
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Saratoga action in the cards for Winchell graded-stakes winners
While the current main focus of owner Ron Winchell’s racing operation is Grade 1 Belmont Stakes contender Red Route One, the upcoming meet at Saratoga Race Course is in play for much of his graded stakes-winning Gun Runner progeny, including Gunite, who could target the Grade 1, $350,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap on July 29.
Trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, Gunite was triumphant in Saturday’s listed Aristides at Churchill Downs, which he won by 1 3/4 lengths while hitting a career-best 108 Beyer Speed Figure. The effort came following on-the-board efforts in the Group 3 Riyadh Dirt Sprint [2nd] on February 25 at King Abdulaziz Racecourse and the Group 1 Dubai Golden Shaheen [3rd] on March 25 at Meydan Racecourse.
Gunite earned both of his graded wins at Saratoga, taking the 2021 Grade 1 Hopeful and last year’s Grade 2 Amsterdam at the Spa.
Winchell Thoroughbreds’ racing and bloodstock advisor David Fiske said Gunite has matured throughout his 4-year-old year.
“We were hoping if he came back and was as good or better, that he would show up at Saratoga this year, given how good he’s run there in the past,” Fiske said.
Gunite, a Kentucky homebred, is out of the stakes-winning Cowboy Cal mare Simple Surprise, who won the 2015 Bolton Landing at the Spa. A seven-time stakes winner overall, he boasts a productive record of 17-8-5-2 and $1,749,509 in earnings.
Previous Saratoga graded stakes victresses Echo Zulu and Wicked Halo also are slated for Spa action over the summer.
“I would suspect that they will all be on the Oklahoma training track before too long,” Fiske said.
Echo Zulu, the 2021 Champion 2-Year-Old Filly, has not raced at the Spa since capturing the Grade 1 Spinaway during her champion-earning season. The Asmussen-trained 4-year-old bay filly was second in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint in November at Keeneland and commenced her current season in style when capturing the Grade 3 Winning Colors on May 29 at Churchill Downs by 5 3/4 lengths. The effort produced a career-best 97 Beyer. She is owned by Winchell in partnership with L and N Racing – who campaigned her Grade 1-winning half-brother Echo Town.
Wicked Halo, a millionaire, is unbeaten in two starts at Saratoga – both in graded events – for Asmussen. She scored in her graded stakes debut in the 2021 Grade 2 Adirondack and captured the Grade 2 Prioress in September. A winner of the Grade 2 Raven Run at Keeneland and third-place finisher of the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, the gray filly defeated Matareya in the March 31 Matron in her seasonal debut at Oaklawn. She finished second last out to Matareya in the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff on May 6 at Churchill Downs, where defending Champion Female Sprinter Goodnight Olive finished third following a victory in the Grade 1 Madison at Keeneland.
“That might be the toughest division anywhere,” Fiske commented. “When Goodnight Olive ran in her comeback race, she got a 98 Beyer. When Matareya won on Derby Day, she got a 97. Wicked Halo’s comeback race was a 94 and she ran a 95 on Derby Day. That’s a pretty tough trio right there.”
Events for elder female dirt sprinters at the Spa include the Grade 2, $200,000 Honorable Miss Handicap on July 26 at six furlongs and the Grade 1, $500,000 Ballerina Handicap on August 26 at seven furlongs.
Fiske mentioned the seven-furlong Grade 2, $200,000 Bed o’ Roses on June 17 at Belmont Park as a possible Saratoga springboard for Wicked Halo.
“We nominated Wicked Halo to the Bed o’ Roses and she’s still possible but we haven’t decided on anything yet,” Fiske said.
Wicked Halo, a Kentucky homebred, is out of the graded stakes winning Tapit mare Just Wicked.
Fiske mentioned that Disarm, who finished fourth in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby last out, will likely target the Grade 3 Matt Winn on June 11, which will be run at Ellis Park.
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New York-bred millionaire Cross Border returns to the flat in G2 Belmont Gold Cup
Three Diamonds Farm’s multiple graded-stakes winning New York-bred Cross Border has made his last three starts over jumps, but will return to the flat in Friday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Belmont Gold Cup, a two-mile Widener turf test for older horses, at Belmont Park.
The 9-year-old English Channel ridgling made five starts for trainer Keri Brion dating to September, including his last three over hurdles led by a maiden score traveling 2 1/16-miles in March at Aiken ahead of a distant fourth last-out in a 2 1/2-mile handicap over soft ground on April 29 at Charlotte.
Cross Border recently rejoined the barn of Mike Maker, who conditioned the dark bay from 2019-August 2022, and has posted a trio of works over the Belmont dirt training track including a half-mile effort in 52 flat this morning.
“He’s the same old Cross Border. He’s a sound, hickory horse,” Maker said.
Bred in the Empire State by Berkshire Stud and B. D. Gibbs, Cross Border captured back-to-back editions of the 11-furlong Grade 2 Bowling Green in 2020-21. The ultra-consistent Cross Border sports a ledger of 49-12-8-6 for purse earnings in excess of $1.1 million.
He will be in search of his first win in 10 attempts over the Belmont green, having hit the board on four occasions.
“It looks like a tough spot to make his comeback, but we’ll see,” Maker said.
Irad Ortiz, Jr. will pilot Cross Border from post 12 as part of a stacked 13-horse field that includes European raiders Siskany and High Definition.
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