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Cross Country Pick 5 Posts Nice Payout

The Cross Country Pick 5 on Saturday, featuring racing from Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y., Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J., and Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario, tallied a total pool of $87,895.50, paying out $1,437 for selecting all five winners for the 50-cent wager.

Whispering Pines started the wager by overtaking Midtown Rose in the stretch and pulling away for a 3 1/4-length victory under jockey Jose Ortiz to win the seven-furlong allowance sprint for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up in Race 7 at Belmont. Trained by Horacio DePaz, Whispering Pines, off at 9-2, returned $11.80 on a $2 win wager.

Woodbine got into the action when Linda Loves Lace, an 11-1 selection, went gate-to-wire for a 1 1/4-length win over Elite Princess in a 5 1/2-furlong sprint over the all-weather track in Race 7. Trained by John Staples and ridden by Steven Bahen, Linda Loves Lace paid $25.90.

The sequence's biggest surprise came in the lone stakes race, when 79-1 Informative bested favorite and last year's Grade 1 Haskell runner-up Ny Traffic by one length to win the Grade 3 Salvator Mile in Monmouth Park's Race 10. Informative, piloted by Jose Ferrer for trainer Uriah St. Lewis, was a $161.60 winner for topping the 10-horse field of 3-year-olds and up.

Conversely, the fourth leg saw the only favorite to win in the sequence, when Speightstown Shirl defeated Confident by three-quarters of a length to win the one-mile turf maiden event for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up in Woodbine's Race 8. Conditioned by Roger Attfield and ridden by Rafael Hernandez, Speightstown paid $3.70.

Closing the sequence was Fifty Sheas Ofgrey, who returned $25.40 after holding off He'spuregold by a head in the 1 1/16-mile turf maiden special weight for 3-year-olds and up in Monmouth's Race 11. The Carlos David trainee, ridden by Hector Diaz, Jr., topped the 10-horse field.

The minimum bet for the multi-track, multi-race wager is 50 cents. Wagering on the Cross Country Pick 5 is also available on track, on ADW platforms, and at simulcast facilities across the country. Every week will feature a mandatory payout of the net pool.

The Cross Country Pick 5 will continue each Saturday throughout the year. For more information, visit NYRABets.com.

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Clement May Send Gufo In Sword Dancer

Trainer Christophe Clement said he has been delighted thus far with Otter Bend Stables' Gufo following two late-closing efforts against Grade 1 company to commence his 4-year-old season.

The consistent son of Declaration of War kept a never-off-the-board record intact when making up 17 lengths to finish a late-closing third to Domestic Spending in the Grade 1 Manhattan Stakes at Belmont Park, Elmont, N.Y. on June 5, registering a career-best 100 Beyer Speed Figure. He arrived at the 10-furlong engagement off a narrow runner-up finish in the Grade 1 Man o' War Stakes on May 8, where he made a five-wide move in the upper stretch with dead aim on pacesetter Channel Cat, coming up a nose shy of victory.

“He was a bit erratic in the Manhattan. We've got to work on that,” Clement said. “I may put blinkers on him, I'm not sure yet. We'll come back somewhere going a mile and a half or mile and three-eighths and get him going longer.”

Clement mentioned the $500,000 Grade 1 Resorts World Casino Sword Dancer on August 28 at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. as a likely target and said Gufo could run once before said start.

During his 3-year-old season, Gufo won the English Channel Stakes at Gulfstream Park and Grade 3 Kent Stakes at Delaware Park before coming up a head shy of victory to Domestic Spending in the Saratoga Derby Invitational Stakes. He successfully sought redemption next out in the Grade 1 Belmont Derby Invitational Stakes.

Clement has twice won the Sword Dancer Invitational, with Winchester [2011] and Honor Glide [1999].

Also pursuing Grade 1 turf action from the Clement stable is Plum Ali, who displayed a strong turf of foot with a close second when chasing a leisurely pace in the Grade 3 Wonder Again Stakes at Belmont Park on June 3. Owned by Michael Dubb, Madaket Stables, and Michael Caruso, Plum Ali will target the 10-furlong $700,000 Grade 1 Belmont Oaks Invitational on July 10, the first leg of the Turf Triple series for fillies.

“She should get the distance,” Clement said. “She came out of the Wonder Again in good shape. We'll work her next week.”

Plum Ali, a daughter of First Samurai, began her racing career with wins in her first three starts, including the Grade 2 Miss Grillo Stakes on October 4. In two starts as a 3-year-old, Plum Ali gathered more graded stakes black type when third in the Grade 2 Appalachian Stakes before the last-out Wonder Again.

Clement has won the Belmont Oaks twice when raced as the Garden City Handicap with Miss World [2009] and Voodoo Dancer [2001].

R Unicorn Stable's Call Me Love earned her first North American triumph in a 1 1/16-mile allowance optional claiming event over the inner turf on May 23.

The daughter of Sea the Stars earned black-type twice last season with second-place finishes in the Grade 3 Beaugay Stakes at Belmont Park and the Grade 2 Ballston Spa Stakes at Saratoga.

Call Me Love registered her second work since her last out triumph when breezing a half-mile in 49.45 seconds over the inner turf on Sunday morning.

Clement mentioned the $100,000 Perfect Sting on July 3 at Belmont, going one mile for fillies and mares, as an option for Call Me Love.

“Call Me Love worked well today,” Clement said. “There's one stake this meet for fillies on the grass and it's a mile which is a little on the short side for her, but we're going to have a look at it. I think she wants to go further.”

Clement said he would send stakes winners Bye Bye and Bubbles On Ice to the one-mile $100,000 Wild Applause Stakes on June 26.

Owned by Bach Stables, Bye Bye is a winner of both her efforts on grass, most recently in the Grade 3 Soaring Softly Stales on May 15. Bubbles On Ice, owned by Glen Hill Farm, Madaket Stables, and Cheyenne Stables, was fifth in the Hilltop Stakes on May 15 at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, M.D. last out after capturing her North American debut in the Memories of Silver Stakes on April 18 at Aqueduct.

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Sadler’s Joy Looking For Firm Turf In Grand Couturier

Trainer Tom Albertrani is hoping for improved weather this summer to allow Sadler's Joy to run on his preferred firm track after rain has twice delayed his plans this spring. The Woodslane Farm homebred is now slated to run in the $150,000 Grand Couturier Stakes on Monday, July 5 as part of the Stars and Stripes Racing Festival at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

The 1 1/2-mile turf contest for 4-year-olds and up could mark the return to racing for Sadler's Joy after Albertrani passed on potential starts in the $700,000 Grade 1 Man o' War Stakes in May and the $400,000 Grade 2 Belmont Gold Cup on June 4 during the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival because of earlier rainfall and the potential for softer turf, which the conditioner said does not suit the 8-year-old veteran.

“We've been unlucky with the weather and having a lot of rain leading up to these races,” Albertrani said. “We know he doesn't perform as well on soft turf, so we just decided to pass on it. We'll wait until July and that will be our next move going forward.”

Sadler's Joy, 7-4-11 in 36 career starts, ended 2020 with a fourth-place effort in the Grade 3 Red Smith Stakes at Aqueduct Race Track in Queens, N.Y., and started the current year with similar finishes in consecutive 1 1/2-mile contests, starting with the Grade 3 W.L. McKnight Stakes in January at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla. and following last out at the same distance and track in the Grade 2 Pan American Stakes on March 27.

In August, Sadler's Joy crossed the wire first in the Grade 2 Bowling Green Stakes at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. before being disqualified and placed fourth for interference. Consequently, the accomplished Kentucky bred, who has amassed more than $2.6 million in career earnings, has not won in 10 starts but has finished third on four occasions and fourth in his last five, dating to his last victory in the 2019 finale in the Grade 3 Red Smith at Aqueduct.

On Saturday, Sadler's Joy breezed five furlongs in 1:02.40 over the Belmont Park main track. His conditioner said his works, the last six of which have come at Belmont dating to May 8, have continued to be impressive.

“He looks as good as ever and has been training really well,” Albertrani said. “He's had a couple of months off now since his last race, so now hopefully we'll get the weather to cooperate and we'll get him back on track.”

Robert Masiello's Fiya also worked Saturday on the Belmont main track, registering a half-mile breeze in 49.96 seconds.

After going 5-for-5 as a sophomore in 2020, Fiya made his 4-year-old debut on April 30 at Churchill Downs in Louisville, K.Y. but was vanned off after running last-of-11 in the Grade 2 Turf Sprint. Albertrani said the Friesan Fire gelding is back to full health now and could have his next spot picked out when the condition book is released for the conclusion of the Belmont spring/summer meet that runs until Sunday, July 11.

“Everything is going really well. Yesterday's work was really good,” Albertrani said. “We're just waiting for the new book to come out and hopefully we'll be able to find a spot for him in there in a couple of weeks. Yesterday, he worked as good as ever. I was really pleased with it. He's starting to come back around. He's feeling good and we're looking forward to getting him back.”

Fiya, who is 5-1-1 in eight career starts, ended his 2020 with back-to-back stakes wins, capturing the Maryland Million Turf Sprint Handicap in October at Laurel Park near Laurel, M.D. before winning the Claiming Crown Canterbury in December at Gulfstream Park. His lone previous start at Belmont came with a 3 1/4-length win against allowance company in September in his first start for Albertrani since he took over the training duties from Michael Merryman.

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Thomas Targets Belmont Derby for Hard Love

Trainer Jonathan Thomas didn't get the prep race he initially had in mind for Robert LaPenta, Augustin Stable, and Madaket Stables' Hard Love, but said he still plans on running the talented son of Kitten's Joy in the $1 million Grade 1 Belmont Derby Invitational, first leg of the Turf Triple series, on July 10 at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

Hard Love was entered in the Grade 2 Pennine Ridge Stakes on May 29 but scratched when inclement weather forced the event onto the main track. Thomas went to Plan B and ran Hard Love in a nine-furlong allowance optional claiming race against older horses on the turf in the Belmont Stakes Day finale on June 5.

Piloted by Manny Franco, Hard Love tracked the pace from second, battled to the outside of pacesetter Desert Peace in the stretch drive, and prevailed by a head.

“We felt like we had him ready for the Pennine Ridge,” Thomas said. “It was a bit of a gut punch having it come off the turf, so we were lucky the allowance race was in the book. We felt like we got a nice prep into him for the Belmont Derby. Based off what we've seen, it looks like the further the better. He is an efficient moving horse, and his pedigree suggests the further the better. He should appreciate the added distance.”

Thomas is targeting a second Belmont Derby victory having won in 2018 with the versatile Catholic Boy, who proceeded to win the Grade 1 Runhappy Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. that year.

“There are some similarities in his physique,” Thomas said. “He's a big leggy colt and also a very genuine horse. He seems to show up every time. He's a little more laid back in his disposition than Catholic Boy. But the biggest difference is that I am almost certain he's not the same horse on the dirt. He's a turf horse.”

Thomas said he was delighted to see Burning Bright notch a third lifetime victory in a 1 ¼-mile off-the-turf allowance optional claimer on May 30.

Owned and bred by George Strawbridge, Jr.'s Augustin Stable, the son of Empire Maker, out of 2008 Champion Grass Mare Forever Together, won the event by 7 ¼ lengths, recording an 89 Beyer Speed Figure.

Thomas did not rule out going back to turf with Burning Bright and mentioned the $150,000 Grand Couturier Stakes on July 5 at Belmont Park going 1 ½ miles and the $500,000 Grade 1 United Nations on July 17 at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J. as options.

Burning Bright's lone start on grass was a well-beaten tenth on debut going 1 1/16 miles at Tampa Bay Downs last March.

“He breezed on the turf before his last race and I really liked what I saw,” Thomas said. “His first race on the grass was a toss-out. I've been looking forward to getting him on the grass. The main thing is getting the opportunity to stretch out. The further, the better.”

Thomas also eyes a return to grass for fellow Augustin Stables homebred Evoking, who won on debut by 4 ¼ lengths in an off-the-turf maiden special weight going six furlongs on May 29.

“We'll keep our options open with Evoking,” Thomas said. “She is probably going to be better once we get her on the grass. I was very pleased with the effort.”

Thomas said McConnell Racing Stable's War Terminator, a maiden winner in April at Aqueduct who had been pointing for Saturday's $150,000 NYSSS Spectacular Bid, would get some time off following a minor issue.

“We like the horse quite a bit and the owners are exceptional people, but we need to back off on him unfortunately,” Thomas said.

While War Terminator will be out of action, Thomas will soon welcome LaPenta's New York-bred stakes winner Nicky the Vest back to his stable. The son of second-crop sire Runhappy was a last-out winner of the Gander Stakes on February 15 at Aqueduct but was sidelined due to a knee chip discovered following a workout in late March.

“The recovery is going well,” said Thomas. “They've got him doing a lot of aqua therapy. I hope to get him back in a few weeks.”

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