Belmont Stakes Advances: GII Ruffian, Grade 3’s Beaugay, Peter Pan

By Brian Bohl —-

Indulgent, Highway Star rematch in Saturday’s G2 Ruffian

ELMONT, N.Y. – Fresh off a career-high speed figure rating in her graded stakes debut, Godolphin Racing’s Indulgent will look to notch her first stakes win as part of a field of five fillies and mares 4-years-old and up in the Grade 2, $250,000 Ruffian on Saturday at Belmont Park.

Indulgent, a 4-year-old Bernardini filly, is 3-2-0 in six career starts and has finished on the board in her last five starts since her debut. The Kiaran McLaughlin trainee will look to build on a runner-up effort in the Grade 3 Distaff Handicap in which she finished just a half-length behind Highway Star – a fellow entrant in the Ruffian – while registering a 92 Beyer Speed Figure. She will depart post 4 with Irad Ortiz, Jr. aboard carrying 117 pounds, while the rest of the field will carry 123 pounds.

“She ran really well last time and I think they’ll be a good shift in weights in our favor over Highway Star,” McLaughlin said. “Last time, she only gave us one pound. This time she has to give us six pounds. She’s doing great and trains aggressively, so we don’t work her that often. She worked great last week.”

Indulgent, who has never raced at longer than seven furlongs, will now challenge for supremacy in the Ruffian in a one-turn mile on the main track. McLaughlin said the half-sister of Metropolitan Handicap and Whitney winner Frosted should be able to handle the increased distance.

“We feel like she always wanted the mile and it’s a good progression,” McLaughlin said. “The distance shouldn’t be a problem. She’s used to this track and she trains here every day. We’re excited about the race. As far as speed, she’ll probably be more forwardly placed going further. She’s always come from off of it going short, but going a mile, she might be closer to the lead.”

Highway Star, a two-time graded stakes winner, will look for her third win in four starts for trainer Rodrigo Ubillo. The 4-year-old earned a career-best 92 Beyer in the Distaff, rallying from fourth. Owned by Chester and Mary Broman, Highway Star has six career wins in nine starts, including a victory in the Grade 3 Go for Wand Handicap on December 3 at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Highway Star, 3-for-3 at one mile on the dirt, has earned nearly half a million dollars in her career and will be running on Big Sandy for the first time since winning an optional claimer on September 28. Angel Arroyo, who has won three of his four mounts aboard Highway Star, has the return call from post 3.

High Ridge Road, the winner of the Grade 2 Barbara Fritchie on February 18 at Laurel Park, has four wins and a runner-up finish in five starts at a mile. Trained by Linda Rice, the 5-year-old daughter of Quality Road has finished on the board in 10 of her 12 career starts.

Jose Ortiz has the mount and will depart from the inside post.

Bar of Gold will be looking for her first win of 2017, drawing the outside post. Trained by John Kimmel, the 5-year-old has not won a graded stakes start but has three second-place and a trio of third-place finishes on her resume. Also owned by the Bromans, the New York bred has faced top-level competition before, coming in second in the 2015 Grade 1 Test, Grade 2 Prioress and Grade 2 Lexus Raven Run.

A veteran closer, Bar of Gold won her last start at Belmont, stalking the pacesetters before cruising to an 18-length dominating win in the Empire Distaff Joel Rosario will be in the irons.

Completing the field will be Verve’s Tale for trainer Barclay Tagg. The 4-year-old will be cutting back in distance after a second-place effort in the Grade 3 Top Flight on April 2. Verve’s Tale, who closed her 2016 campaign with a win in the Grade 3 Comely, will depart post 2 in tandem with jockey Paco Lopez.

Time and Motion looks to regroup in G3 Beaugay

By Heather Pettinger

Trainer Jimmy Toner will aim for his third win in the Grade 3, $150,000 Beaugay when he sends out multiple graded stakes winner Time and Motion at 1 1/16 miles on the grass Saturday at Belmont Park.

By Tapit and out of the stakes winning Kris S. mare Ellie’s Moment, Time and Motion will try to get back on track following a sixth-place finish in the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley on April 15 at Keeneland.

As a 3-year-old, Time and Motion kicked off her sophomore campaign with a three-race win streak before finishing a close second to Catch a Glimpse in the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks. She turned the tables on Catch a Glimpse with a neck victory in the Grade 2 Lake Placid last summer at Saratoga and picked up a gutsy Grade 1 win in the Queen Elizabeth II that fall at Keeneland. Time and Motion shipped west to close out 2016 in the Grade 1 Matriarch at Del Mar, finishing sixth behind Miss Temple City.

Deciding where to get started for her 4-year-old season, Toner’s original plan was to wait for the Beaugay but, encouraged by her spring training, he decided to take a shot in the Wiley, where she finished three lengths behind a venerable pair in Dickinson and Lady Eli.

“I got a little ahead of myself,” said Toner, who won the 2007 and 2012 editions of the Beaugay with Masseuse and Winter Memories, respectively. “I knew I was behind the other fillies in the race as far as training was concerned, but she got to doing so well I felt like it would be OK. She just wasn’t 100 percent ready, so she came up a little bit empty the last part of it.

“It was against Lady Eli and Dickinson; it was a solid field,” he added. “She’ll definitely improve off of that. She got that race into her and this was the race I was originally pointing for, so we’re here and we’ve got one under our belt.”

Toner added that Time and Motion will don blinkers for the first time in the Beaugay, an equipment change he and jockey John Velazquez have long kicked around to sharpen her focus.

“She won five races last year so you’re not sure you ever want to change anything, but she’s always been that type of filly that’s always looking around and losing focus,” he said. “Then after that last race, Johnny and I talked about it and he said, ‘it’s time, let’s just put them on.’ Johnny breezed her with the blinkers on and she went very nicely. She stayed focused all the way and I couldn’t be happier with how she’s coming into the race.”

Velazquez has the mount aboard Time and Motion. The pair will break from post 4.

Trainer Graham Motion, meanwhile, is hoping for a bit of weather luck this weekend for multiple Grade 1 winner Miss Temple City. Motion scratched his star mare from the Grade 2 Distaff Turf Mile on the Kentucky Derby undercard last Saturday, intended as a prep for England’s famous Royal Ascot meet, when the turf course at Churchill Downs came up softer than preferred.

“Originally she was going to run at Keeneland but she had a little incident in Florida,” Motion said. “She got loose one day and came up with a little inflammation in her legs. She missed two or three weeks of training so that kind of set us back. Then we were going to run [last] Saturday but I was worried about running her on a weird, soft turf course coming off a minor injury plus a layoff to boot. I’m afraid I’ll probably find myself in the same situation this weekend. We’ve talked about going to Ascot without a race and if that happens, that happens. I’d like to run this weekend, but I don’t know.”

Miss Temple City drew post 8 with Edgar Prado named to ride.

Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey will be represented by a pair of runners, led by Stuart S. Janney III’s homebred stakes winner On Leave. By War Front, the 4-year-old sister of multiple graded stakes winner Ironicus will be making her first start since finishing fourth in the Queen Elizabeth II, her only defeat in five starts in the year.

“We gave her some time off after that race and she reacted to that really well,” said McGaughey. “Her breezes have been good, especially her last two on the turf, and I’m looking forward to getting her back. She’s stronger, body-wise, and she knows what’s going on now. I’m pleased with the way she’s doing. It’s going to be a tough spot to start her out, but it’s a spot to start her out. It’s a long year.”

McGaughey will also saddle All in Fun, supplemented into the race for Janney.

On Leave will be ridden by Jose Ortiz from post 7, while All in Fun will have the services of Javier Castellano from post 5.

Chad Brown will send a formidable duo in 2016 Grade 2 Canadian winner Rainha Da Bateria and Grade 1 Diana heroine Dacita. Dacita, who also won the Grade 2 New York last spring at Belmont, will be ridden by Irad Ortiz, Jr. from post 6. Rainha Da Bateria will break from the rail with Joel Rosario aboard.

Rounding out the field for the Beaugay are My Sweet Girl for trainer Barclay Tagg; Hawksmoor from the barn of Arnaud Delacour.

Timeline steps up for Grade 3 Peter Pan

By Najja Thompson —-

Unbeaten in two starts, Woodford Racing’s Timeline will now step up to face graded stakes competition facing a field of six in Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Peter Pan at Belmont Park, the traditional local prep to the Grade 1, $1.5 million Belmont Stakes on June 10.

Initially purchased for $500,000 as a yearling at the Keeneland September Sale, the son of Hard Spun made his debut on March 4 at Gulfstream Park at a mile, where he bested a field of 14 traveling five-wide surging late with a swift turn of foot. Following that impressive debut, Timeline returned on April 6 at Aqueduct Racetrack in an allowance optional-claiming race, where he recorded a field-high 101 Beyer Speed Figure over a sloppy main track, defeating seven foes winning by 13 ½ lengths.

“As a 2-year-old, he had to overcome some baby issues so we had to send him to the farm and just wait on him,” said trainer Chad Brown. “The time off was probably well spent because since he’s comeback, he’s been very sound and strong. He’s trained well all winter in Florida so we were hoping he would get his career started off the right way and he sure did that. He’s had two great performances in his first two starts, so we couldn’t be happier with him.”

With his first two career starts and Saturday’s 1 1/8-mile Peter Pan all contested around one turn, Brown said he has little concerns for later stretching out the colt looking past Saturday’s race.

“I think he’s a horse that wouldn’t have a problem stretching out to two-turns but I do like the progression from one mile to a mile and an eighth,” added Brown. “We’ll take each step forward at a time and stay around one turn one more time and see how he handles it before we tackle two turn races”

Also entering from the Brown barn is Take Your Guns for owner John Gunther A son of Blame bred by his owner, Take You Guns debuted on February 18 at Gulfstream, where he finished third before breaking his maiden last out on April 15 at Keeneland, around two turns.

“It’s big jump up to run in a stakes race after a maiden win but he’s a horse that’s improved with distance,” said Brown. “Coming back and moving to a one-turn race at the same distance is slightly concerning to me; he’s probably more effective around two turns but I like the timing of this race for his development. There’s a chance he could be a Belmont Stakes-type horse going a mile and a half and I think he’ll run all day so that’s really my thought process with entering him here.”

With Joel Rosario in the irons, the pair will leave from post 6.

Winstar Farm and trainer Todd Pletcher will enter Master Plan. Coming off a third-place finish in the Group 2 UAE Derby and flying into Belmont on Monday after just missing the cut for entering the field for the Kentucky Derby, Pletcher is still encouraged of the colt’s chances.

“Initially when he returned from Dubai we sent him to Winstar for a little bit of a freshening and he’s returned well,” said Pletcher. “He had two breezes at Churchill and entered into the [Kentucky] Derby and didn’t get in, but he breezed on Sunday there and I thought that went well. He’s coming into this race in good shape. He’s a horse that’s going to settle in early and make one run. We’re thinking the distance should suit him well.”

Drawing the rail. Hall of Famer John Velazquez will have the mount.

Rounding out the field is Impressive Edge for trainer Dale Romans and NK Racing, who last out finished fourth in the Grade 1 Florida Derby; Looking At Blessing, for Hall of Fame trainer Nick Zito, who enters off a fifth-place finish in the Grade 3
Lexington at Keeneland; and Meantime, for Siverton Hill and trainer Brian Lynch, who broke his maiden in his third start by 7 ½ lengths on April 22 at Keeneland.