Belmont Stakes Racing Festival Notes 05/30

NYRA PRESS OFFICE —-

Belmont at the Big A Notes

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Lee Pokoik’s Becky’s Joker, who won the Grade 3 Schuylerville on debut last July at Saratoga Race Course, is under consideration for Belmont Stakes Racing Festival action in the six-furlong Listed $150,000 Jersey Girl on June 6 or the nine-furlong Grade 1, $500,000 DK Horse Acorn on June 7, at Saratoga Race Course.

Trained by Gary Contessa, the sophomore daughter of Practical Joke exited the six-furlong Schuylerville to run off-the-board in the 6 1/2-furlong Grade 3 Adirondack on August 6 at the Spa and she has not raced since.

Contessa said he will enter Becky’s Joker, who has worked extensively since the end of March, including a six-furlong drill in 1:14.65 on Tuesday over Saratoga’s Oklahoma training track, in both the Acorn and Jersey Girl.

“I’m going to enter her in both races. I’m going to look at the complexion of both races, and see where I think she is a better fit,” said Contessa. “Obviously, coming off such a layoff, the Jersey Girl makes sense, but when she trains, she seems like she’d run all day. She is a big filly who never runs out of gas, one mile and an eighth doesn’t seem out of the question, but it does remain the unknown.

“She’s had two sprints, that’s it. We are going to put her in and hopefully make the right decision,” Contessa added.

Contessa said that the decision between the sprint and route will come down to potential pace scenarios.

“I believe in the Acorn, she would be on the lead. I don’t believe anybody is going to beat a horse like her to the lead other than herself, if she breaks bad or something,” said Contessa. “The Jersey Girl, she’d probably be last and make one run.”

Out of the Elusive Quality mare Becky’s Best, Becky’s Joker holds a lifetime record of 2-1-0-0 with $98,250 in earnings.

Bell Gable Stable’s Nutella Fella, a 2-for-2 sophomore son of Runhappy and last-out 54-1 winner of the Grade 1 Hopeful in September at the Spa, will return from his near nine-month layoff in the Grade 1, $500,000 Woody Stephens presented by Mohegan Sun, a seven-furlong sprint for sophomores on June 8 Belmont Stakes Day.

The Runhappy bay has worked weekly at Saratoga since April, including a six-furlong breeze in 1:14.65 on Tuesday over Saratoga’s Oklahoma training track.

“He’s definitely running in the Woody Stephens. He’s been phenomenal, he’s ready to run. I’ve gotten the works into him that I needed and he’s shown up for every work,” Contessa said. “He’s going to have to come back and win a Grade 1 off the layoff, he needs to be fit. I’m old-school, I work horses the distance they have to run. I’ve actually worked him seven-eighths.”

In the last-out Grade 1 Hopeful score, Nutella Fella was 6 1/4 lengths back in last-of-10 after breaking slow, before surging late under Junior Alvarado to earn a 1 1/2-length score over next-out Grade 1 Champagne-winner Timberlake. He entered off a debut score in July at Delaware Park after being fractious at the gate when in the barn of Richard Sillaman.

Contessa said that even with the time off, Nutella Fella is still experiencing a bit of gate troubles.

“That’s his Achilles heel, I think it is always going to be a problem,” said Contessa. “But this gate crew knows him, and are very smart with him and know how to handle him. We have an established game plan for how to handle him in the gate.”

Alvarado, who has been aboard for Nutella Fella’s last two works, will have the call in the Woody Stephens.

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Kuchar probable for G2 Suburban

LSU Stables’ Kuchar breezed a half-mile in 49.04 seconds Thursday over the Saratoga main track and will likely next contest the Grade 2, $350,000 Suburban, a 10-furlong test for older horses, on Belmont Stakes Day June 8 at Saratoga Race Course.

Trained by Rudy Rodriguez, the 5-year-old Uncle Mo horse has made his last three outings at nine furlongs at Aqueduct Racetrack, winning versus optional claiming company on March 1 and May 9 with a third in between when contesting the Listed Excelsior on March 30.

“The owners were here to watch him work this morning. The owners want to go to that race and I think the horse deserves his chance,” said Rodriguez. “I love the distance. He is a big, nice-looking horse and what he wants to do is a mile and a quarter and two-turns. I’m very happy with the way he breezed this morning.”

Rodriguez said the added ground could be appreciated by Kuchar and that it will be a good experiment going a distance he hasn’t competed at since winning an off-the-turf allowance in May 2022 at Churchill Downs for conditioner Rodolphe Brisset.

“We just have to hope we get a good trip. All these races at Saratoga, everybody comes ready, so it is going to be a good race to figure out what we should do with him,” Rodriguez said.

A good result from Kuchar, who entered Rodriguez’s care after previously being trained by Jamie Ness until late August, could propel him to a try in the Spa’s Grade 1, $1 million Whitney on August 3 which offers a “Win and You’re In” berth to the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic.

“Hopefully, he gives us an indication that he keeps improving. Since we got him, it’s been steady progress,” Rodriguez said. “It is a good race to take a shot. If he likes Saratoga, maybe we can go to the Whitney.”

Rodriguez said Flavien Prat, who piloted his last-out closing score when a nose better than Ouster, will have the call on Belmont Stakes Day.

Bred in Kentucky by WinStar Farm, Kuchar, out of the multiple Grade 1-placed Street Hero mare Street Girl, was a $500,000 purchase at the Fasig-Tipton Horses of Racing Age Sale in July 2022.

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G3 Gazelle-winner Where’s My Ring settles in at Saratoga

Michael McMillan’s Grade 3 Gazelle-winner Where’s My Ring is on the grounds at Saratoga Race Course to prepare for a start in the nine-furlong Grade 1, $500,000 DK Horse Acorn for sophomore fillies on Friday, June 7 on Day Two of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival.

Where’s My Ring endured a troubled off-the-board effort after exiting post 2-of-14 under Jose Lezcano in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks on May 3 at Churchill Downs where she was hampered by a retreating rival at the three-eighths and had to scurry through a tight opening on the rail.

“We got a bad start in the Oaks. She just got rolling in the final turn and she got wiped out at the five-sixteenths pole,” trainer Val Brinkerhoff said. “She was coming good and then a horse jumped to the inside and t-boned her and that was it.”

The Twirling Candy bay has worked back twice at Churchill Downs and is now onsite at Saratoga where she will breeze once more as a final tune-up for the DK Horse Acorn.

“She’s doing really well,” Brinkerhoff said. “I worked her here at Churchill a couple times and I sent her up there to get used to the track.”

Brinkerhoff said Tyler Gaffalione will pilot Where’s My Ring at the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival.

Where’s My Ring, a $100,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase, boasts a record of 9-1-3-1 for purse earnings of $217,620. She graduated in style with Lezcano up in the nine-furlong Grade 3 Gazelle on April 6 at Aqueduct Racetrack, besting eventual Kentucky Oaks-third place finisher Regulatory Risk by 4 1/4-lengths.

“We got a good trip that day. She broke well and I got a really good ride from the rider,” Brinkerhoff said. “I told him to sit on her until they got to the five-sixteenths pole and then start moving her. He backed her out and came around and she won easy.”

The talented bay twice tried graded company as a 2-year-old maiden at Santa Anita Park, finishing a rallying fourth after a bobbled start in the Grade 3 Surfer Girl over one-mile of firm turf in October. She followed with a distant eighth in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies one month later.

Where’s My Ring, who overcame a bout of colic last summer, has shown improvement since adding blinkers four starts back when second in a one-mile maiden tilt won by Ultimate Authority in February at Santa Anita. She returned to finish second to Kinza in the 1 1/16-mile Grade 3 Santa Ysabel in March at Santa Anita with Ultimate Authority settling for fourth.

Where’s My Ring is out of the winning Tapit mare Mapit, who is a half-sister to stakes-winner Merlazza.

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Stakes-winner Kant Hurry Love works at Belmont; Sunday Girl, Lisa’s Vision target New York Showcase Day

Ken Wheeler, Jr.’s stakes-winner Kant Hurry Love worked Thursday at Belmont Park, covering a half-mile in 50.29 seconds over the dirt training track. The New York-bred Kantharos bay will contest the inaugural running of the six-furlong Rehoboth on June 5 at Delaware Park as a prep for the six-furlong state-bred Dancin Renee on June 23 at Belmont at the Big A.

Trainer David Duggan said he was pleased with the work from Kant Hurry Love, who added blinkers for the effort and will wear them in the Rehoboth.

“She went good,” said Duggan. “We are prepping her in Delaware so we’re not going into the Dancin Renee as ring rusty. We feel this is a nice move. If we win there, we get her an open company stakes, and then can parlay that into being ready for the Dancin Renee. Hopefully, the blinkers help sustain her run a little more. We’ve breezed her with them a couple times, and if it bombs in the race, we’ll just take them off in the next race.”

Kant Hurry Love has not raced since being defeated a nose by graded stakes-placed Hot Fudge in the six-furlong Correction facing open company on March 9 at Aqueduct Racetrack. The consistent mare has hit the board in 9-of-10 outings for Duggan, including a win in last year’s Dancin Renee at Belmont Park, scoring by a nose over Grannys Connection.

“That was a war last time,” Duggan said of the Correction. “We’re picking our spots right now and hopefully they’re the right ones. She’s a different type of filly and has a real sprinter way about her, and coming off a layoff, you’re always worried about tightness – but she’s done very well and I think she’s doing good enough to run a very good race at Delaware,” said Duggan. “There’s more benefit rather than negative.”

Bred in the Empire State by Dr. John McDermott and Laura McDermott, Kant Hurry Love has banked $456,850 through a consistent lifetime ledger of 21-5-8-5.

Duggan will likely have two contenders at the upcoming Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course, with both horses slated for races on the final day of the four-day event – the June 9 New York Showcase Card.

Mitre Box Stable, Clear Stars Stable and Eighth Note Stable’s stakes-winner Sunday Girl looks to the $125,000 Bouwerie, while Anthony Pettograsso’s homebred Lisa’s Vision is likely to make her first start for Duggan in the one-mile Mount Vernon over the inner turf.

Sunday Girl is undefeated through two lifetime starts, winning impressively on debut by 7 1/4 lengths sprinting six furlongs in February at the Big A, and following with a successful stakes debut in the restricted 6 1/2-furlong NYSSS Park Avenue in April at the same oval. She will stretch out to seven furlongs in the Bouwerie.

“We tested the waters the last few times and they were good preparations, so it’s time to test this,” said Duggan. “The only question mark I have is the seven-eighths, but it’s not a huge one. It’s a new variant, and she’s going to meet some tougher horses, but I think she’s ready. She works Saturday and then we will be on the road.”

Lisa’s Vision made her first 14 starts for trainer Jorge Abreu and recently moved to the Duggan barn after a five-month layoff. The Laoban 5-year-old made 10 of her first 12 starts on turf before moving to the main track in her last two appearances, finishing third in the seven-furlong NYSSS Staten Island and an even sixth in an open-company allowance on December 31 ahead of her respite.

Lisa’s Vision would stretch out to one mile for the first time since October should she contest the Mount Vernon.

“She’s out of conditions, so you have to take a chance somewhere,” said Duggan. “If she works well Sunday, we’ll trend in that direction [to the Mount Vernon]. Going a mile off the layoff is a concern against those kinds of horses, but it’s a place to start. She’s a sweetheart. He [Abreu] did a fantastic job with her, so I just want to maintain her form.”

Lisa’s Vision notched three wins for Abreu, led by back-to-back allowance level scores last summer at Belmont and Saratoga. She has banked $235,799 through a 14-3-4-1 record.

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