Adding blinkers for this, the 3-5 favorite traveled smartly in third as Saudi Crown showed the way through an opening quarter in :22.47. Up a spot into second through an eye-opening half mile in :44.63, Fort Bragg loomed boldly on the outside as the two hit the quarter pole together. Saudi Crown and Fort Bragg locked horns down the stretch, and, after a long drive, Fort Bragg fought by to win by a hard-fought nose in a race that didn't deserve a loser. Harrodsburg (Constitution) was 11 lengths back in third.

Fort Bragg, a well-beaten third for Bob Baffert in last December's GII Los Alamitos Futurity, made three previous outings for Tim Yakteen this term, headed by a too-good-to-lose second-place finish in the GII Pat Day Mile S. at Churchill Downs May 6.

“We love winning those big races in New York,” Baffert said. “It means a lot for the horse. We were always very excited about him, but he was just immature mentally. He's just figuring it out. His last race was huge at Churchill. He just got away bad that day or he probably would have won the race. I think he's getting it all together. They went fast today. He went against a really nice horse and they just laid it down, but class always prevails. It was a good race with two good horses.”

Pedigree Notes:

Fort Bragg becomes the 160th stakes winner/101st graded winner worldwide for leading sire Tapit. Fort Bragg is the first foal out of the stakes-winning March X Press, who is also responsible for a Quality Road colt of 2022 and a Honor A. P. filly of 2023. March X Press brought $560,000 from Parks Investment Group at the 2021 KEENOV sale. March X Press previously brought $330,000 from Newgate Farm while carrying Fort Bragg at the 2019 KEENOV Sale,

Saturday, Belmont Park

DWYER S.-GIII, $200,000, Belmont, 7-1, 3yo, 1m, 1:35.37, ft.
1–FORT BRAGG, 118, c, 3, by Tapit
1st Dam: March X Press (SW, $151,730),
           by Shanghai Bobby
2nd Dam: Indian Rush, by Indian Charlie
3rd Dam: Rhapsody Blues, by Homebuilder
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($700,000 Ylg '21 FTKOCT). O-SF Racing LLC, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables LLC, Robert E. Masterson, Stonestreet Stables LLC, Jay Schoenfarber, Waves Edge Capital LLC and Catherine Donovan; B-SF Bloodstock LLC & Henry Field Bloodstock (KY); T-Bob Baffert; J-John R. Velazquez. $110,000. Lifetime Record: 8-2-2-2, $321,300. Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus* Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Saudi Crown, 118, c, 3, Always Dreaming–New Narration, by Tapit. 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. ($45,000 Ylg '21 KEEJAN; $240,000 2yo '22 OBSAPR). O-FMQ Stables; B-CHC Inc. (KY); T-Brad H. Cox. $40,000.
3–Harrodsburg, 118, g, 3, Constitution–Gracer, by Exchange Rate. 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. O/B-Twin Creeks Farm (KY); T-Rob Atras. $24,000.
Margins: NO, 11, 3 1/4. Odds: 0.70, 1.60, 10.40.
Also Ran: Joey Freshwater, Alternate Reality, Prove Right.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs.
VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Life Is Good, this year's GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S. romper, bounced back from a fourth-place finish in the G1 Dubai World Cup with a dominant five-length score in Saturday's GII John Nerud S. at Belmont, earning a 112 Beyer, tied for the second-highest figure of 2022.

“He came back excellent,” said trainer Todd Pletcher. “We felt confident that he had maintained his form based on the way he had trained, but it's nice to see him go over and live up to expectations.”

Also pointing to the $1-million Whitney, a 'Win and You're In' qualifier for the GI Breeders' Cup Classic, is Saturday's GII Stephen Foster S. hero Olympiad (Speightstown). The Bill Mott-trained bay has surged to the upper echelon of the handicap division by going unbeaten in five starts this year, including four graded stakes, and earned a career-best 111 Beyer for his 2 1/4-length victory Saturday at Churchill.

“The goal is to get him a Grade I win,” Mott said Sunday. “We've always thought about running him in the Whitney. So I'd say that would be the next likely target.”

Pletcher said Life Is Good is ready for a potential clash with Olympiad, and added that it's possible his Foster runner-up Americanrevolution (Constitution) could contest the Whitney as well.

“Olympiad is on quite a streak himself and you'd always expect the Whitney to be a difficult race, but we're very pleased with the way that [Life Is Good] is doing,” the Hall of Fame trainer said.

Pletcher also reported that Charge It (Tapit) came out of his staggering 23-length rout in Saturday's GIII Dwyer S. at Belmont in good order and will point to the GI Travers S. Aug. 27 at the Spa. Charge It earned a 111 Beyer for Saturday's tour de force, easily the top number earned by a 3-year-old thus far in 2022.

“We thought he would run well, and you never think of one winning by that type of margin, but he's a colt that we've always been very high on and he's always trained like a horse that was capable of great things,” Pletcher said. “He's starting to get a bit more maturity and seasoning now and I still think there's room for improvement. [The Travers] is what we're thinking and that's the goal. We're very pleased with the way he ran and I feel like as he matures, he's trained like a horse that a mile and a quarter is within his range.”

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It was the second win from three starts for the John Gunther-owned homebred, and trainer Chad Brown told the Daily Racing Form that Stage Raider could be pointed to the G3 Dwyer Stakes on July 5 at Belmont for his graded stakes debut.

“The time wasn't going to turn any heads,” Brown told DRF of the allowance win. “He got a good education out of it, being down inside and going up the rail. Sometimes these kinds of horses that still need a little bit of seasoning, that's the most important part of running in these races, to get more experience.”

Read more at the Daily Racing Form.

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