Belmont Park Notes July 9th

NYRA PRESS RELEASE —-

• Brown’s G1 Belmont Oaks stars exit ‘rare feat’ in good order
• Mind Your Biscuits in fine fettle, G1 Forego next
• Oscar Performance earns career-best Beyer for Belmont Derby win
• Keen Ice targets G1 Whitney next; Always Dreaming works at Belmont before heading to Spa

ELMONT, N.Y. – Chad Brown’s Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Oaks runners exited their 1-2-3 finish in good order, their trainer said Sunday morning.

Reigning Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf winner New Money Honey and European imports Sistercharlie and Uni, all separated by little more than 1 ¾ lengths under the wire, offered Brown a remarkable trifecta finish in Saturday’s Stars & Stripes co-feature.

“That was a rare feat,” said Brown. “We’re really happy. All three horses ran well. It’s unfortunate that any of them really had to lose, they all ran winning races. I was proud of their efforts, and so far, everyone seems to be in good shape.”

Brown said targets for e Five Racing’s New Money Honey and Uni, owned in partnership by Michael Dubb, Head of Plains Partners, Haras d’Etreham and Bethlehem Stables, will be determined in the near future, adding that Peter Brant’s Sistercharlie, who arrived from France on July 1, will have an easy summer with plans to gear up for a fall campaign.

“I’ve only had her a week but I’ve been impressed,” Brown said of the Irish-bred filly by Myboycharlie. “She was sent to me in good condition. She ran her heart out yesterday from a difficult post, on short rest, and without a ton of pace to run into. She had missed a little bit of training because of quarantine and she nearly got it done. She won’t be running this summer, I don’t believe, but she’s a really exciting horse for the future.”

Klaravich Stables and William H. Lawrence’s multiple graded stakes winner Practical Joke came out of his two-length victory in the Grade 3, $400,000 Dwyer in nice shape. Brown added that the sophomore son of Into Mischief likely will target the Grade 1 Haskell on July 30 at Monmouth Park.

“He had been training as good as ever, so we were cautiously optimistic that he was going to run an ‘A’ race, and he did,” said Brown. “I’m proud of this horse. He gave a lot of weight to the other starters and still ran a key race. We’re strongly considering bringing him back in three weeks for the Haskell. That’s what we have penciled in, as long as he comes back healthy.”

Preakness winner Cloud Computing, also owned by Klaravich and Lawrence, put in his fourth work since winning the middle jewel of the Triple Crown on May 20. Currently aiming for the Grade 2, $600,000 Jim Dandy on July 29 at Saratoga Race Course, the Maclean’s Music colt covered five furlongs in a bullet-earning 59.01 seconds after getting some unexpected company midway through the breeze, said Brown.

“He worked a little fast, but he worked super well within himself,” he said. “Another horse broke off in the middle of the turn while we were in the middle of a five-eighths work and he saw that horse as a target. He’s so competitive that he pulled the rider there. It caused the work to be a little faster than I wanted but, then again, it seemed like he was moving very easily.”
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Picking up his fourth graded stakes victory and second in a row, following a win in the Group 1 Dubai Golden Shaheen, 4-year-old Mind Your Biscuits firmly planted himself as one of the top horses in the country with his 3 ½-length victory in Saturday’s Grade 2, $350,000 Belmont Sprint Championship.

Trainer Chad Summers reported the New York-bred son of Posse came out of the race in fine fettle. Summers credited Mind Your Biscuits’ ability to fire fresh to the connections’ patience with him as a juvenile, which has allowed him to flourish as an older horse today.

“He ate everything up last night, and walked the shed row good this morning,” said Summers. “We couldn’t be happier. I think he’s kind of a throwback horse. Normally, you need a lot of space between races, and you need this or you need that, or you run a big one and then you don’t. He just continues to get better and I think that we sent a little bit of a message yesterday, that’s he’s just not a New York-bred, he’s a legitimate top horse and deserves to be in that category when you’re talking about the top horses of 2017.”

“The reason I think this horse is so good, was giving him the break after he was fourth to Governor Malibu in that maiden race [November 14, 2015],” he added. “He could’ve had a nice winter as a New York-bred, but we liked him a lot. We did right by him and gave him the winter off so we could have a big 3-year-old year and take care of the horse. I think that helps to prolong their careers and we take a lot of pride that he’s a 4-year-old now doing what he’s doing. He was stakes-placed at 2, a Grade 1 winner at 3, and a Grade 1 winner at 4. It’s really cool.”

Mind Your Biscuits will target the Grade 1, $600,000 Forego on Travers Day, August 26 at Saratoga Race Couse, where he won the Grade 2 Amsterdam last year and has two second-place finishes as a 2-year-old.

“He loves Saratoga,” added Summers. “It’s open, he loves the crowds, he loves having his picture taken and that’s what Saratoga is all about. Saratoga is the place you want to be and to be going up there with the barn of horses we have and to be able to compete with him as our flagbearer, we’re super excited.”
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Amerman Racing’s homebred Oscar Performance was in an upbeat mood following his impressive win in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1.2 million Belmont Derby Invitational, trainer Brian Lynch said Sunday morning.

The 3-year-old ridgling by Kitten’s Joy earned a personal-best 96 Beyer Speed Figure in notching his fifth win in eight career starts, besting an 11-horse field in the last of five graded stakes on the Stars & Stripes Racing Festival card.

“He looked good and came out of the race in good order and didn’t leave an oat and seemed perky enough walking around the shed row today,” Lynch said. “He broke a tad behind and had to ease on up there. When the half came up in 49-and-change, I felt comfortable.”

Oscar Performance hit off the side of the stall at the break, forcing him to chase pacesetter Big Score through the first quarter mile before taking over the lead. Under a patient ride by jockey Jose Ortiz, Oscar Performance edged away under a drive to win by two lengths, marking his second straight victory after capturing the Grade 3 Pennine Ridge on June 3.

“He worked so good coming into the race and I thought the Pennine Ridge was a real good prep for him,” he said. “I was confident he could get the mile and a quarter if he was able to dictate the terms, so in my mind it played out the way I visualized.”

Now with a win at 1 ¼ miles under Oscar Performance’s belt, Lynch said he’s looking at the Grade 1, $400,000 Secretariat Stakes on August 12 at Arlington Park or the Grade 3, $250,000 Del Mar Derby on September 3.
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Trainer Todd Pletcher reported Sunday morning that Keen Ice came out of his first win in nearly two years fine, following his victory in the Grade 2, $750,000 Suburban at Belmont Park.

The 5-year-old son of Curlin earned a 106 Beyer Speed Figure in recording his first win since the 2015 Grade 1 Travers, running down 1-2 favorite Shaman Ghost in the stretch. The win was also one of five on Stars & Stripes Day for jockey Jose Ortiz.

“He ran well and seemed to come out of it great,” Pletcher said. “Even though the fractions were slow, I liked the fact that Jose didn’t have to urge him on. He was putting himself into a striking position. He looked like he was traveling well throughout.”

Breaking from the rail, Keen Ice stayed off Matt King Coal’s early fractions before closing late.

“He broke well and right away he was into it a little more,” Pletcher said. “It’s a little counter intuitive that you’d think a closer would benefit from a slow pace, but it helped him and he was able to secure a good spot. For the mile and a quarter here at Belmont, I think drawing inside is always an edge.”

Owned by Donegal Racing and Calumet Farm, Keen Ice is likely to make a return trip to Saratoga Race Course for the 90th running of the Grade 1, $1.2 million Whitney on August 5. Pletcher also said the long-term plan is to run in the Grade 1, $750,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup on October 7 at Belmont.

“I haven’t spoken to [the owners] yet but the Whitney would be the logical next target and we’d love to come back for the Jockey Club since he obviously likes the mile and a quarter. That would be Plan A.”

Battalion Runner finished third in the Grade 3 Dwyer on Saturday and came out of the race with no issues, Pletcher said.

“He seems fine; I think in retrospect I might have left him a little short with only four breezes and you could also argue the track wasn’t playing well with speed yesterday,” he said. “He didn’t get beat too badly and seemed to come back well.”

Always Dreaming put in his final breeze at Belmont before shipping to Saratoga on Monday, going 49.45 seconds on the training track, according to Pletcher. The Grade 1 Kentucky Derby winner is scheduled to work two more times at the Spa before the Grade 2, $600,000 Jim Dandy on July 29.

“It was a good, relaxed work,” Pletcher said. “He seems to be happy. We’d been focused on having him chill out a little bit and I think we’ve made progress. We kind of backed off after the Preakness and gave him a few easy weeks.”

Patch and Coal Front also worked in company on Sunday. Coal Front, 2-for-2 in his career, is slated to run in the Grade 2, $200,000 Amsterdam on July 29.

“Coal Front kind of got pretty aggressive with Johnny [Velazquez] down the backside and went off a little quicker than we would have liked, but despite that, they finished up pretty well and galloped out pretty well.”

Pletcher said Patch, who finished third last out in the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes for Calumet Farm, still has options for his next race.

The first weekend at Saratoga will also feature the Pletcher contingent, with Stainless, a 2-year-old filly who won her unveiling on May 29 at Gulfstream Park, making her stakes debut in the Grade 3, $150,000 Schuylerville on Opening Day, July 21.