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Belmont Stakes: Max Player Breezes Quick Six Furlongs For Rice

George E. Hall's Grade 3 Withers Stakes winner Max Player breezed six furlongs in 1:12.25 Saturday morning on Big Sandy in preparation for the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes on June 20 at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

Max Player will be trainer Linda Rice's first Belmont Stakes entrant since Supervisor finished fifth in 2003. His owner, George E. Hall, has enjoyed success in the Classic, with Ruler On Ice capturing the 2011 edition.

Rice said she was impressed with Max Player's final Belmont Stakes prep, working solo under exercise rider Oscar Gomez.

“He went the first three-eighths in 36.3 and I instructed Oscar to ask him to finish a little bit from the sixteenth pole through the wire,” said Rice. “We did the same thing 10 days ago and we just wanted to let him stretch out a little bit on the main track. He went 59.3 and out in 1:12.1 for three-quarters. It seems fast, but the clockers told me the track is very fast today. He went very well.”

Max Player closed to finish second on debut in November at Parx in a one-mile maiden and graduated at second asking on December 17 over a sloppy Parx surface ahead of his Withers win.

Rice said Max Player has matured mentally and physically heading into the biggest race of his career.

“He's grown up a lot,” said Rice. “He's changed tremendously since he was a 2-year-old. He ran at Parx twice and was very green then. We used to breeze him in company to get him focused and at this point he's changed a lot mentally and physically.”

Max Player is currently 32nd on the Kentucky Derby leaderboard with 10 points and will look to add to those totals in the Belmont Stakes, offering 150-60-30-15 Derby qualifying points to the top-four finishers.

The talented Honor Code colt has now breezed 11 times since winning the nine-furlong, two-turn Grade 3 Withers last out on February 1 at the Big A. Rice said she has taken great care to ensure Max Player has the foundation to be successful in the Belmont.

“He hasn't run in five months and I had spaced his works out every two weeks during the pandemic, having no target in sight and not knowing what we were pointing towards,” said Rice. “This last month, I've given him three breezes, ten days apart, and I was very pleased with his last two works on the main track.”

A talented Belmont Stakes field will include Grade 1 winners Basin and expected race favorite Tiz the Law, but Rice said she is confident in her colt's readiness for the one-turn nine-furlong test in the Belmont.

The post Belmont Stakes: Max Player Breezes Quick Six Furlongs For Rice appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Max Player Tunes Up for Belmont

Last-out GIII Withers S. scorer Max Player (Honor Code) breezed Saturday morning at Belmont, getting six furlongs in 1:12.25 under work rider Oscar Gomez. It was the sophomore’s last work before the GI Belmont S., which is scheduled for June 20. Owned by George E. Hall, who won the 2011 Belmont with Ruler On Ice (Roman Ruler), Max Player is trained by Linda Rice, who last had a runner in the Belmont in 2003 with Supervisor (Skip Trial).

“He went the first three-eighths in :36.3 and I instructed Oscar to ask him to finish a little bit from the sixteenth pole through the wire,” said Rice. “We did the same thing 10 days ago and we just wanted to let him stretch out a little bit on the main track. He went :59.3 and out in 1:12.1 for three-quarters. It seems fast, but the clockers told me the track is very fast today. He went very well.”

Max Player ran twice at Parx last year, debuting with a runner-up finish in a November maiden special weight before graduating in December. His 3 1/4-length win in the Feb. 1 Withers was his first and only start this year. The Withers was contested at nine furlongs, the same distance the Belmont will be held at this year.

“He hasn’t run in five months and I had spaced his works out every two weeks during the pandemic, having no target in sight and not knowing what we were pointing towards,” said Rice. “This last month, I’ve given him three breezes, ten days apart, and I was very pleased with his last two works on the main track.”

Max Player has 10 points on the current Kentucky Derby leader board, good for 32nd on the list. The Belmont offers qualifying points of 150-60-30-15 to the top four finishers.

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Veteran Pure Sensation Leads Clement Arsenal In Belmont Day Stakes

Trainer Christophe Clement sports a record of 26-7-4-2 at the Belmont Park spring/summer meet in Elmont, N.Y., winning at a 27 percent clip going into Saturday's card, and will look to add to those totals next Saturday where he will saddle a number of stakes contenders.

In the Grade 1, $250,000 Jaipur presented by America's Best Racing, Clement has 9-year-old seasoned veteran Pure Sensation, winner of the 2016 Jaipur, as well as stakes winners Shekky Shebaz and White Flag under consideration.

Patricia Generazio's Pure Sensation, a veteran of 36 lifetime starts, owns 11 stakes victories, including four wins in the G3 Turf Monster at Parx Racing. He is closing in on the $2 million mark having banked $1,998,550. He has not raced since finishing fifth in last year's Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint at Santa Anita.

White Flag, a Robert Evans homebred, won the 2017 Allied Forces at Belmont Park and the 2018 Aqueduct Turf Sprint Championship. The son of War Front has placed against graded stakes company three times, including a third-place effort in the G1 Highlander at Woodbine in September.

A winner of the Lucky Coin at Saratoga last summer, Shekky Shebaz was third in the G1 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint in November.

“Pure Sensation, Shekky Shebaz and White Flag are possible for the Jaipur, we'll decide over the weekend,” said Clement.

Clement plans on sending G1 winner Decorated Invader for the G2, $150,000 Pennine Ridge over the Widener Turf Course. Owned by Terry Finley's West Point Thoroughbreds, William T. Freeman, William Sandbrook and Cheryl Manning, the sophomore son of Declaration of War won his 2020 debut in the Cutler Bay on March 28 at Gulfstream Park.

Following a second-out maiden triumph at Saratoga, Decorated Invader bested G1 company in the Summer at Woodbine en route to a fourth-place finish in the G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Santa Anita.

“Decorated Invader has done very well,” Clement said. “Physically, he's very nice to look at, he's impressive in his works and impressive in his races.”

Clement is also thinking ahead with two of his winners this meet and said that Friday allowance winner Wegetsdamunnys could return in either the $100,000 Mount Vernon on July 2 against her New York-bred counterpart or the 80,000 River Memories against open company going 1 ½-miles on the turf.

“[The Mount Vernon] is 20 days out but we'll try to do it. Another option is the mile-and-a-half [River Memories] stake at the end of the meet, so we'll have a look at that,” Clement said.

A five-time winner, Scott Krase and Peter G. Stokes' Wegetsdamunnys, bred in the Empire State by Wellspring Stables, is still in search of a first stakes victory. Friday's victory was her first start since finishing eighth in the G3 Long Island on November 30 at Aqueduct.

Clement said Oak Bluff Stables' New York-bred Therapist could race in either the $100,000 Kingston going 1 1/16 miles on July 5 or the $75,000 Banrock going six furlongs on July 9.

“He's doing well,” said Clement. “We have two choices he has could sprint going six furlongs or go towards a mile and a sixteenth. We'll just train him and let him tell me which way we'll go.”

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Pletcher Pair Prep for Belmont

Todd Pletcher-trained Quality Road colts Dr Post and Farmington Road worked in company Saturday over the Belmont main track as they eye the GI Belmont S. in one week’s time. With Oaklawn S. runner-up and GI Arkansas Derby (Nadal {Blame}’s division) fourth finisher Farmington Road broke off slightly in front of of his Unbridled S.-winning stablemate, and the pair finished together while covering four panels in :48.87 (9/37) before galloping out more or less in tandem (XBTV Video).

“I was very pleased with the work,” Pletcher said. “I was a little concerned going in, working the two horses together, but I felt like that was the best match-up for each horse. They worked in company together last week at Palm Beach Downs and it seemed to go well (5f, 1:01.27, 2/3, XBTV Video)… I thought both horses relaxed nicely in the early part of their work, finished up strongly and galloped out very, very nice. All in all, it went well.”

Pletcher trained top sire and four-time Grade I winner Quality Road himself for the late Ned Evans.

“You can see similarities in both of them to their sire,” said Pletcher of his Belmont-bound pair. “I would say that Dr Post looks more like Quality Road because he’s a bit of a bigger horse, but you can definitely see a similarity in both of them.”

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