Belmont: Talented field of 11 juveniles set for Saturday’s $100K Awad

By Najja Thompson —-

ELMONT, N.Y. – A talented group of 11 juveniles is set to compete on the final Saturday of the Belmont Park fall meet in the $100,000 Awad for 2-year-olds on the Widener turf course.

Conditioner Michael Stidham will saddle Pixelate for Godolphin in the one-mile Awad. The homebred son of City Zip made his debut on synthetic going five furlongs on July 21 at Arlington Park where he finished second. He followed up with a third-place finish when trying turf for the first time in August, before graduating by 2 ½-lengths over a yielding turf course at Arlington on September 1.

Stidham said Pixelate is improving with each effort.

“I thought he moved up in his last start and, numbers wise, coming out of that race, he deserved a shot here,” said Stidham. “He seems like the type of horse to get in a good stalking position and then accelerate through the finish. We’ve been carefully selecting our spots with the horses we’ve chosen to run in New York. It’s worked out so far. Hopefully, he’ll continue that trend.”

Pixelate will leave from post 4 with Jose Lezcano aboard for the first time.

Get Smokin will be looking for his first stakes victory coming off an impressive maiden win on September 15 at Belmont for Mary Abeel Sullivan Revocable Trust. A son of Get Stormy in the care of conditioner Tom Bush, he made his debut on August 1 at Saratoga going 5 ½ furlongs on the turf, finishing third. He posted a field high 77 Beyer Speed Figure in his maiden victory on September 18 at when traveling one-mile on the Belmont turf.

Bush said Get Smokin will improve with more distance.

“We’re confident he’ll give a good showing,” said Bush. “He’s a big, strapping colt. We got him started going 5 ½ furlongs and then successfully stretched him out last time He ran well coming from off the pace and since then has continued to improve.”

With Luis Saez in the irons, Got Smokin will leave from post 8.

Augustin Stable’s Talking will look to rebound off a sixth-place finish in the Grade 1 Summer at Woodbine Racetrack. The Jonathan Thomas trainee impressively won his debut by 2 ¾ lengths on August 17 at Monmouth Park before entering the Summer, where he traveled wide most of the way

Reunited with Hall of Fame rider Javier Castellano, Talking will leave from post 5.

Thomas also entered Noble Emotion for owner Michael Ryan. The Noble Mission colt finished fourth in his August 16 debut at Saratoga and followed with a win on September 20 at Belmont.

Drawing the rail, Noble Emotion will be ridden by Hall of Famer John Velazquez.

Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott entered a pair of talented juveniles in Tiesto for LNJ Foxwoods and NK Racing and No Lime for LRE Racing LLC and JEH Racing Stable.

A Tiznow colt purchased for $600,000 in April at the OBS 2-year-olds in training sale, Tiesto won his debut by 3 ½ lengths on September 21 at Belmont, recording a 75 Beyer Speed Figure. No Lime, a New York-bred son of Flashback purchased for $30,000 at the 2018 Keeneland September Sale, won his debut over a muddy track in a race taken off the turf on July 26 at Saratoga Race Course. Following an off-the-board effort in the Funny Cide, he returned to the turf in the Grade 3 Pilgrim on September 28 finishing seventh.

Tiesto, with Jose Ortiz in the irons, will leave from post 3; No Lime, with Junior Alvarado aboard, will depart from post 6.

Rounding out the field is Irish Mias (Manny Franco, post 2); Polar Bear Pete (Dylan Davis, post 7); Buy Land and See (Irad Ortiz, Jr., post 9); Don Juan Kitten (Kendrick Carmouche; post 10); and Me and Mr. C (Joe Bravo; post 11).

The Awad is slated as Race 9 on Saturday’s 10-race card, which also features the $100,000 English Channel in Race 5 and the Grade 3, $200,000 Bold Ruler in Race 9. First post is 12:45 p.m. Eastern.