belmont park | Horse Racing Free Tips

Street Boss Colt Gallops In Belmont Bow

1st-Belmont, $87,300, Msw, 7-10, 2yo, 6f (off turf), 1:10.70, gd, 2 1/4 lengths.
DOCTOR JEFF (c, 2, Street Boss–Wild Bea {SP}, by Wild Rush), entered for main track only, took over favoritism from chief market rival Fort Ticonderoga (War Front) in the final minutes and made 13-10 look like a gift in the Saturday opener from Belmont. Drawn just outside Fort Ticonderoga in gate two, Doctor Jeff was hustled away from stalls by Joel Rosario and cut out the opening couple of furlongs in :22.61 while under light urging. Ridden hands and heels into the lane, he immediately opened an insurmountable advantage at the eighth pole and was wrapped up fully 150 yards from the wire, scoring by a relatively meaningless 2 1/4-length margin. Beaten for speed, Fort Ticonderoga saved ground, but to no avail, and finished six lengths clear of third-placed Flip the Script (Temple City). The $90,000 Keeneland September is a half-brother to Queen of Beas (Flatter), GSP, $180,850; and to Flattering Bea (Flatter), MSW, $441,082. His yearling half-sister by Flatter sells at this year's September sale with Woodford Thoroughbreds. Sales history: $90,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $49,500. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.
O-Michael Dubb & Michael J Caruso; B-James Arrison (KY); T-Rudy R Rodriguez.

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Belmont: Saturday’s Pick 6 Features Carryover Of $54,191

Saturday's Pick 6 will be bolstered by a $54,191 carryover as the multi-race wager went unsolved on Friday at Belmont Park.

The $1 Pick 6, implemented at the current 48-day Belmont spring/summer meet, returned $433 to bettors who selected 5-of-6 winners correctly.

Friday's Pick 6 sequence kicked off in Race 4 as Bourbon's Hope [No. 1, $11.60] graduated at first asking in a 5 1/2-furlong maiden special weight for New York-bred juveniles. Joel Rosario engineered the winning trip for trainer Charlton Baker.

Jose Lezcano captured the next two legs with April Antics [No. 9, $6] scoring in Race 5 in a state-bred maiden claiming sprint for conditioner James Ryerson and Dreams of Tomorrow [No. 8, $4.60] proving to be much the best for Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey in an off-the-turf optional-claiming mile in Race 6.

Three Jokers [No. 2, $7.30], with Jose Ortiz up, captured a 1 1/16-mile state-bred optional-claiming event in Race 7 ahead of the day's biggest upset when Dancingwthdaffodls [No. 7, $46.20] rallied down the center of the track under Dylan Davis in Race 8 to win an off-the-turf optional claiming event for conditioner Eduardo Jones.

With the Pick 6 carryover already secured, Giggle Factory [No. 9, $9.90] took command past the furlong marker to win the off-the-turf nightcap by open lengths in a one-turn mile claimer for jockey Junior Alvarado and trainer Tom Albertrani.

Featuring a $1 bet minimum and 15 percent takeout, the Pick 6 wager requires bettors to select the first-place finisher of six designated races on the card. A total of 75 percent of the full pool, minus takeout, will be distributed to bettors who select the first-place finisher of all six races. A consolation payout of 25 percent of the net pool will be distributed to tickets selecting 5-of-6 winners.

In the event there are no tickets with six winners, there will be a carryover of 75 percent of the net pool into the next day of the meet with the remaining 25 percent of the net pool distributed as a consolation payout to tickets selecting the first-place finisher in the greatest number of races on the card. On carryover days, the Pick 6 is offered with a 24 percent takeout.

The $1 Pick 6 replaced the Empire 6, a jackpot style wager featuring a $0.20 bet minimum first offered in August 2019 at Saratoga Race Course.

Saturday's Pick 6 kicks off in Race 6 at 3:34 p.m. Eastern and includes the Grade 1, $700,000 Belmont Oaks Invitational in Race 7; the Grade 3, $150,000 Victory Ride in Race 8; and the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Derby Invitational in Race 9. First post on Saturday's 11-race card is 1 p.m. Eastern.

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Weekend Lineup: International Challengers Take On Belmont Turf

There will be seven graded stakes races this weekend at Woodbine, Delaware Park, and at Belmont Park, which closes out its spring/summer meeting with two Grade 1 turf races as European and American 3-year-olds compete in the Belmont Oaks and Belmont Derby Invitationals. Races are listed in chronological order (all times Eastern).

TVG will be broadcasting racing throughout the weekend from Delaware Park, Gulfstream Park, Monmouth Park, Woodbine and more. Fans can tune in on TVG, TVG2 and the Watch TVG app, which is available on Amazon Fire, Roku and connected Apple TV devices.

“America's Day at the Races” will be broadcasting live on Saturday, July 10 on FS1 from 1-3 p.m., and on FS2 from 3-5:30 p.m. from Belmont. On Sunday, July 11, “America's Day at the Races” will be live on FS2 from 12:30-4 p.m., and on FS1 from 4-5 p.m.

Saturday, July 10

3:15 p.m. ― $150,000 Grade 3 Robert G. Dick Memorial at Delaware Park on TVG

Godolphin's Micheline looks to return to her winning ways leading a field of nine fillies and mares at Delaware Park in the Grade 3 Robert G. Dick Memorial on turf. Trained by Mike Stidham and ridden from post 4 by Joe Bravo, Micheline won the Grade 2 Hillsborough at Tampa Bay Downs in March, but finished sixth in the Grade 1 Coolmore Jenny Wiley at Keeneland in April, and 10th last out in Monmouth's Grade 3 Eatontown on June 20, failing to launch a serious bid. Pocket Aces Racing's 5-year-old Temple City Terror defeated Bal Mar Equine's Dalika (GER) by three-quarters of a length in the black type Keertana Stakes at Churchill Downs on May 22, reversing the order of finish from the listed Albert M. Stall Memorial at the Fair Grounds on Feb. 13 when Dalika prevailed by 1 length. Trained by Brendan Walsh, Temple City Terror, a 5-year-old daughter of Temple City, will be ridden by Florent Geroux from post 5. Dalika, a six-time winner, is trained by Al Stall Jr., and will be ridden by Miguel Mena from post 8.

Entries: https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/DEL071021USA5-EQB.html

4:06 p.m. ― $700,000 Grade 1 Belmont Oaks at Belmont Park on FS2

Trainer Aidan O'Brien has sent over Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith and Westerberg's Santa Barbara (IRE) from his base in Ireland, leading a European challenge of Nazuna (IRE) from England, and Cirona (GB) from France, among eight 3-year-old fillies in the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks Invitational Stakes at 1 ¼ miles on turf. The even-money morning line favorite, Santa Barbara, ridden by Ryan Moore from post 5, just missed winning the Group 1 Al Wasmiyah Pretty Polly Stakes at The Curragh on June 27, losing a furious stretch-drive battle to 4-year-old Thundering Nights (IRE) by a neck. Hanako Varian's Nazuna, trained by Roger Varian, returns to the U.S. where she finished 10th in last year's Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. In her lone start this year, Nazuna, a daughter of Kodiak (GB), finished second in the Grade 2 Princess Elizabeth Stakes at Epsom on June 5. John Velazquez will ride from post 6. Bradley Thoroughbreds, Tim Cambron, Anna Cambron, Kent Starr, Sara Starr and Gary Finder's Cirona won the Group 3 Prix de la Grotte Stakes at ParisLongchamp on April 18. She lost a heartbreaker in the Group 1 Saxon Warrior Coolmore Prix Saint-Alary at Longchamp, headed in the final yards. Cirona is trained in by Christophe Ferland, but will be turned over to Chad Brown following this race. Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Joseph F. Graffeo, Del Toro, Eric Nikolaus, and Troy Johnson's Con Lima, and Michael Dubb, Madaket Stables and Michael Caruso's Plum Ali, the 1-2 finishers in the Grade 3, 1 1/8-mile Wonder Again Stakes at Belmont on June 3, are back again. Texas-bred Con Lima, trained by Todd Pletcher, is four of six this year, while the Christophe Clement-trained Plum Ali is seeking her first win of 2021. She captured the Grade 2 Miss Grillo at Belmont in 2020.

Entries: https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/BEL071021USA-EQB.html#RACE7

4:21 p.m. ―$150,000 Grade 3 Selene Stakes at Woodbine on TVG

Three-year-old fillies are in the spotlight on Woodbine's all-weather surface Saturday in the Grade 3, 1 1/16-mile Selene Stakes. Trainer Mark Casse, a Hall of Famer in both Canada and the U.S., has entered three of the seven starters: Gary Barber's California Lily, Live Oak Plantation's Florida-bred Our Flash Drive and D.J. Stable's Danger. California Lily, ridden by Rafael Hernandez from post 2, finished third by less than a length in Woodbine's Grade 3 Star Shoot Stakes on June 19. Our Flash Drive (Patrick Husbands, post 3) was a 3 ¾-length maiden winner earlier on the June 19 Woodbine card. Danger (Emma-Jayne Wilson, post 6) is making her first start since breaking her maiden at Turfway Park last December. William T. Harrigan's Gote Go is the 2-1 morning line favorite off a solid 2-length score in a 1 1/16-mile allowance turf race at Churchill Downs on June 5 for trainer Roger Attfield. Steven Bahen has the mount from post 1.

Entries: https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/WO071021CAN7-EQB.html

4:38 p.m. ―$150,000 Grade 3 Victory Ride at Belmont Park on FS2

Magnifico Stable and Hubert Guy's Louisiana-bred Australasia, unbeaten in six starts, leads a field of 3-year-old fillies going 6 ½ furlongs in the Grade 3 Victory Ride. Trained by Brad Cox, Australasia faces seven runners in her first graded stakes try. After four wins against state breds, Australasia won an allowance optional claimer at Churchill Downs by two lengths on April 30, and the listed 6-furlong Jersey Girl Stakes by 1 length over Bella Sofia at Belmont on June 6. Joel Rosario has the mount from post 7. Michael Imperio, Vincent Scuderi, Sofia Soares, Gabrielle Farm, Mazel Stable Partners, and Matthew Mercurio's Bella Sofia will be making just her third start. Trained by Rudy Rodriguez, Bella Sofia blew away the field when breaking her maiden at 6 furlongs by 11 ¼ lengths at Belmont on May 6 prior to the Jersey Girl. Manny Franco has the mount from post 1. Team D and Madaket Stables' Miss Brazil, third in the Jersey Girl, has won three of six starts for trainer Anthony Dutrow. Jose Ortiz will ride Miss Brazil from post 3.

Entries: https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/BEL071021USA8-EQB.html

5:12 p.m. ―$1 million Grade 1 Belmont Derby Invitational Stakes at Belmont Park on FS2

Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith and Westerberg's Bolshoi Ballet leads nine runners in Saturday's 1 ¼-mile Belmont Derby Invitational Stakes on the turf for 3-year-olds. Trained by Aidan O'Brien, Bolshoi Ballet, a son of Galileo (IRE), has won two of three starts this year, including the Group 3 Ballysax Stakes on April 11 at Leopardstown. However, he followed up that performance with a disappointing seventh-place finish, with no surge in the final furlong, as the 7-5 favorite in the Group? 1 Kazoo Derby at Epsom on June 5. Ryan Moore will ride from post 2. From France comes Teruya Yoshida's Tokyo Gold (FR), a winner of three of six starts, including a four-length score in the Group 2 Derby Italiano Universita' Campus Bio-Medico di Roma (Italian Derby) at Capannelle in Rome on May 23. Trained by Satoshi Kobayashi, Tokyo Gold will be ridden by John Velazquez from post 7. The Bill Mott-trained Du Jour won the Grade 2, 1 1/16-mile American Turf presented by Derby City Gaming on May 1 at Churchill Downs for his third straight win this year. Owned by Natalie Baffert and Debbie Lanni, Du Jour will break from post 5 under Flavien Prat. Robert LaPenta, Augustin Stable and Madaket Stables' Hard Love is two for two this year, including a 1 1/8-mile allowance optional claiming win on June 5 at Belmont for trainer Jonathan Thomas. Manny Franco has the mount from post 6.

Entries: https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/BEL071021USA9-EQB.html

5:15 p.m. ―$400,000 Grade 2 Delaware Handicap at Delaware Park on TVG

A field of seven is set for Saturday's Grade 2 Delaware Handicap for older fillies and mares going 1 ¼ miles. Juddmonte's 4-year-old Bonny South, trained by Brad Cox, has been first or second in her last five starts, which includes a victory in Keeneland's Grade 3 Doubledogdare Stakes on April 16, and a second-place finish to Letruska, the No. 1 rated horse in the weekly NTRA National Thoroughbred Poll, in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps at Belmont on June 5. Florent Geroux has the mount from post 5. Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. has entered the 5-year-old Queen Nekia (Sheldon Russell, post 2) and the 4-year-old Gibberish (Trevor McCarthy, post 1). Florida-bred Queen Nekia has won 10 races, including the Grade 3 Royal Delta at Gulfstream Park in February. Queen Nekia finished fourth in the Ogden Phipps. e Five Racing Thoroughbreds' Gibberish, a four-time winner, finished second in the listed Lady's Secret Stakes at Monmouth Park last time out on June 6. Miracle International Trading's Dream Marie, trained by Matthew Wiliams and ridden by Joe Bravo from post 3, won the listed 1 1/16-mile Obeah Stakes at Delaware by 1 ¾-lengths over Cammarota Racing's Miss Marissa by 1 ¾ lengths. Miss Marissa, trained by Jim Ryerson, will be ridden from post 6 by Daniel Centano.

Entries: https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/DEL071021USA9-EQB.html

Sunday, July 11

4:24 p.m. ― $150,000 Grade 3 Marine Stakes at Woodbine on TVG

San-Som Farm's Canadian homebred Tidal Forces is two for two this year leading six runners in a wide-open field of 3-year-olds in the 1 1/16-mile Marine Stakes on the all-weather surface at Woodbine. Trained by Gail Cox and ridden from post 1 by Emma-Jayne Wilson, Tidal Forces came from off the pace to score by a half-length in a 1 1/16-mile optional allowance claiming race at Woodbine on June 19. Breeze Easy Stable's Easy Time is making his first start since Feb. 12, when he finishing second in an optional allowance claiming race at Gulfstream Park by a neck for trainer Mark Casse. Rafael Hernandez has the mount from post 3. Casse is also starting Gary Barber's Frosted Over, who broke his maiden at 7 furlongs at Woodbine on June 20. Kazushi Kimura rides from post 2.

Entries: https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/WO071121CAN7-EQB.html

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This Side Up: Grass Looking Greener on the Other Side

I don't know which is the greater compliment, the one extended across the continent or the one across the ocean. Putting them together, however, the hosts of the GI Belmont Derby Invitational can feel confident they must be doing something right.

This race has now obtained such stature that the most exciting turf sophomore in the land has had to join the recent defections from the Bob Baffert barn in order to take part–even though Du Jour (Temple City) represents a partnership comprising Debbie Lanni and Baffert's own wife, Jill. With Baffert suspended by NYRA, the significance of this colt's transfer to Bill Mott won't be lost on anyone locally. Very few, however, will be aware of quite how seriously the maturing East Coast turf program is being taken by the most powerful stable in Europe.

It is barely a month since 'TDN Rising Stars' Bolshoi Ballet (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Santa Barbara (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) arrived at Epsom as reputedly the premier 3-year-olds of their sex at Ballydoyle. In the event, both proved disappointing and others in the yard have meanwhile advanced through the ranks. Nonetheless both retain a credibility that will focus much European attention on their performances on Saturday–just as NYRA hoped, when inaugurating the Belmont Derby and Oaks in 2014, and the Turf Triple a couple of years ago.

The kudos vested in any colt that starts at such short odds for the Derby can certainly survive a single performance (not least over such an idiosyncratic track) that transparently fell short of his rehearsals. Indeed, it is often better to run unequivocally below form than to settle for the kind of supporting role that might expose a horse's limitations. But the stakes for Bolshoi Ballet are clearly high.

Santa Barbara, for her part, began her campaign under an awful burden of expectation for a filly that had contested a single maiden. In the meantime her remarkable dam had produced a second consecutive Breeders' Cup winner, and Santa Barbara was clearly reckoned to be cut from similar cloth to Order Of Australia (Ire) (Australia {GB}) and Iridessa (Ire) (Ruler Of The World {Ire}). Making her favorite for Classics on only her second and third starts proved too extravagant, though she was beaten only a neck by a much more seasoned rival in another Group 1 since Epsom. Shipping here, with just 10 days between races, suggests that Santa Barbara is now really being put through the boot camp after her leisured adolescence.

To hope for two such important reputations to be renewed here is a tribute to the way these races have bedded down since their launch, shortly after the arrival of Martin Panza at NYRA.

Heritage is the lifeblood of our sport, and around the world we've all seen it discarded by marketing folk without cultural antennae, clumsily conflating tradition with stagnation. And not every innovation in New York's historic race program is going to work this well. Plenty of people, for instance, grieve the absorption of the GI Hill 'n' Dale Metropolitan H. into a mega-card capped by the GI Belmont S.; while donating the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup to Saratoga feels like Robin Hood robbing the poor and giving to the rich. But this regeneration of the turf program was an exceptionally far-sighted response to a growing need.

Everyone in our business talks a good game about turf racing. Racetracks are doing their bit, not just at the apex but through the pyramid. But the American bloodstock industry is not responding where it counts, at ringside. The commercial market's terror of turf stallions is a massive problem. Even proven ones are undervalued and newer ones, however eligible, tend to be dismissed with contempt. As a result, we have a roaring trade in European imports–and nowadays not just proven runners but also yearlings–to farm inflating U.S. purses.

I'm always complaining about the obtuseness of European breeders about dirt blood, but it's a two-way street and cynical, fast-buck trading across the freshman sire window is no way to build a sustainable breed. Let's not forget that turf tends to be a less punishing surface; nor that the welfare of each individual racehorse is increasingly entwined with the viability of our whole sport.

That was the key message drawn this week by colleague Dan Ross in an outstanding two-part interview with the reliably uninhibited Dr. Rick Arthur, who has just retired as California's equine medical director (Click here for Part 1, here for Part 2). It seems to me that too many horsemen employ vets as a pharmaceutical bag-of-tricks, in effect as a means of pushing the margins of regulation. Vets should enter the barn for one reason, and one reason only: to protect the horses housed there.

Baffert, inevitably, featured in several questions and Dr. Arthur indicated a fairly candid distaste for his aggressive works, not least when emulated by others with lesser stock. The world certainly looks a different place since Baffert saddled not only Medina Spirit in the Derby but also Du Jour on the undercard.

Several powerful owners have meanwhile removed horses from his care, but we should not put words in their mouths and Baffert's prohibition from NYRA tracks is doubtless a pragmatic consideration for some, regardless of any other disquiet they may have. To see Du Jour join the exodus to fulfil his potential reminds us that this whole drama is not just playing out in headlines and courtrooms. Human lives are being lived by human beings, out of that limelight but never out of that shadow. At some point, over a coffee or a glass of wine, a husband and a wife and a friend have addressed a dilemma on the margins of the professional and the personal. Du Jour's granddam, remember, is a half-sister to Ghostzapper and City Zip: there's a place at stud in play here.

But then it only looks essential for Du Jour to run at Belmont because NYRA recognized that their turf program needed an overhaul. Doing that has, in turn, incentivized the breeding industry to behave in a fashion that will better serve the welfare of the Thoroughbred. That's the ultimate imperative, after all. And, guess what, it's the same one that requires those who push the boundaries to be policed and punished.

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