Lael Stables' talented Grade 1-winner Chez Pierre is on schedule for a start in the Grade 3, $200,000 Poker, a one-mile Widener turf test for older horses, on Belmont Stakes Day June 10 as part of the three-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival.
Trained by Arnaud Delacour, Chez Pierre was last seen scoring a dominant victory in the Grade 1 Maker's Mark Mile on April 14 at Keeneland by 3 1/2 lengths over multiple Group/Grade 1-winner Modern Games.
The son of Mehmas pounced from two lengths off the pace under Flavien Prat and took charge at the stretch call, widening his margin down the lane to complete the course in a final time of 1:33.46. The effort was awarded a career-best 106 Beyer Speed Figure. Modern Games exited that race to win the Group 1 Al Shaqab Lockinge at Newbury while third-place finisher Up to the Mark won the Grade 1 Old Forester Turf Classic at Churchill Downs in his next outing.
Chez Pierre has worked four times since the Maker's Mark Mile, most recently covering five furlongs in a bullet 1:00.60 on Saturday over the Fair Hill all-weather surface. Delacour said the 5-year-old gelding will have one more work tomorrow at the Elkton, Maryland training center.
“He'll breeze tomorrow probably a half-mile for maintenance. It was a good work last time and I'm happy with him,” Delacour said. “He's always a pretty good breeze horse, it's just a matter of how much we want to do. We wanted that kind of move, and he did it and came back in great shape.”
Chez Pierre boasts a 6-for-7 lifetime record after beginning his career in France with conditioner Francis-Henri Graffard. He won his first three outings there before moving stateside in the summer of his 3-year-old season.
Delacour said he selected Chez Pierre from the 2020 Arqana December Breeding Stock Sale where he was purchased for $114,164 by Roy and Gretchen Jackson, the owners of Lael Stables.
“Roy and Gretchen Jackson were nice enough to let me spot him at the sale in France,” said Delacour. “A friend of mine bought him on their behalf and we started him in France with Francis-Henri Graffard. He did very well there and he won three races with him. Then, he had a little setback and we found that was the right time to send him to America.”
Chez Pierre won his first American outing by a neck in an optional claimer last March at Tampa Bay Downs before posting a 5 1/2-length victory in the one-mile Henry S. Clark six weeks later at Laurel Park. His lone loss came in the 1 1/16-mile Grade 3 Tampa Bay when racing off a 10-month layoff this February.
Out of the Italian-bred Orpen mare Hortensia, Chez Pierre is a half-brother to the listed stakes-winner Zelda. Hortensia is a half-sister to the graded stakes-winning mare Uraib, as well as Red Vale, the dam of 2009 Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Vale of York.
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