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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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No Joke: Funny Guy Gets 101 Beyer Speed Figure With Commentator Win

Trainer John Terranova said he was delighted with the performance of Funny Guy, who captured Friday's one-turn mile Commentator at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y., off a nine-month layoff, where he garnered a 101 Beyer Speed Figure.

Owned by R. A. Hill Stable, Gatsas Stable and Swick Stable, Funny Guy had not raced since finishing sixth in the Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby on September 29 at Remington Park, which was his lone start against open company. He collected his third career stakes win in the Commentator after taking the Albany at Saratoga and the Times Square division of the New York Stallion Stakes Series last April at Aqueduct during his 3-year-old campaign.

Terranova left all options open for the 4-year-old son of Big Brown, including a start against open company.

“We'll see as we go down the road into the summer what the schedule will be like,” Terranova said. “He's a really nice colt that we've liked all along since we've got him. He's progressed beautifully over the course of time. I'm just happy to see him back and happy that people have had the patience to wait things out and just stay the course. I'm grateful that he's a sound and happy horse.”

Terranova said Funny Guy has been ready to run for quite a while, but was not concerned about the long layoff.

“He's pretty smart. He's kind of unique in that way. He's one of those smart colts that just knows what's up, That's just the impression he gives you,” Terranova said. “We loved him all along. We were coming off a bit of a break and we weren't planning on being gone that long, nobody was.

“He had been ready for a while,” added Terranova. “It looked pretty competitive for a New York-bred stake, and he was going up against older horses. It was a great performance, Joel [Rosario] gave a great ride and we were expecting a big performance out of him, how big was the question.

Terranova also said Curragh Stables' Killybegs Captain will be receiving some time off due to an ankle injury. The graded stakes-winning son of Mizzen Mast last raced when taking the Pelican at Tampa Bay Downs on February 15.

“He's getting some time off right now. He had a deal with his ankle. We're just going to see what happens into the summer, into the fall,” Terranova said.

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SLIDESHOW: Meet the 2020 Belmont Stakes Contenders

What better way to learn about the probable contenders for the 2020 Belmont Stakes than a visual introduction? We’ve put together a slideshow of the horses targeting the Belmont Stakes, and where possible we tried to include profile images and workout images as well as racing photos. The contenders are listed in order of accomplishment.

‘A Shot Against The Best Horses’: Sharing Breezes, Set For Trip To Royal Ascot

Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Gainesway Stable's Grade 1 filly Sharing, who first became a stakes winner last fall at Laurel Park, punched her ticket to Royal Ascot with a six-furlong breeze Friday morning, trainer Graham Motion said.

Under exercise rider Lauren Mendenhall, the 3-year-old Sharing was timed in 1:14.60 over the all-weather surface at Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Md., working in company with 5-year-old mare Mrs. Sippy, a Grade 2 winner.

“Everything's kind of falling into place, so far. We said we wouldn't do this unless everything kind of fell into place, and she worked super this morning,” Motion said. “I feel very good about everything, knock on wood, so far.”

Bred in Maryland by Sagamore Farm, Sharing won the Selima Stakes last September at Laurel in her third career start, propelling her to an upset victory in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1). She opened her sophomore season by extending her win streak to four races in the May 23 Tepin Stakes.

Motion said Sharing will van from Fair Hill to Keeneland June 14, then board a morning flight out of Indianapolis June 16 to Newmarket, England and run in the one-mile Coronation Stakes (G1) for 3-year-old fillies June 20.

The Motion-trained Miss Temple City ran fourth in the 2015 Coronation after winning the Hilltop Stakes at Pimlico Race Course. Motion hoped to follow a similar path with Sharing, but sidestepped to the Tepin with Maryland racing on pause until May 30.

“I was going to run her in the Hilltop at Pimlico, so when that didn't happen that was the next best thing that could have happened a week later. It was like a little miracle when it came up, and she was ready to run. We had planned on running her the week before, anyway,” Motion said. “And it also gave us a month to Ascot. Up until that point, we'd really given up on the idea. But, once we had a race and we had an option we kind of got back to thinking about it again, especially after the way she ran.

“Hopefully she didn't take too much out of herself. I always worry, first race off a layoff. I think sometimes they can take a lot of themselves, but she seems to have bounced back,” he added. “I brought her right back to Fair Hill afterward and she's kind of gone along, and I thought she breezed really nicely this morning.”

Miss Temple City, a debut winner at Laurel Park in October 2014, would go on to win three Grade 1 stakes and more than $1.6 million in purse earnings following her trip to England, and would return to Royal Ascot again in 2016 and 2017. Motion feels Sharing will represent herself just as well.

“Miss Temple City ran in this race and ran a very creditable fourth after winning the Hilltop. This filly's credentials at this stage of the game are better than hers were at that stage of her career,” he said. “Obviously, she went on to be a Grade 1 horse but at this stage, Sharing is more accomplished than Miss Temple City was.”

Winning a race at Royal Ascot would mean a great deal to Motion, having grown up in Newmarket before coming to the U.S. and winning his first race as a trainer in America in March 1993 at Laurel Park.

“I hope I take my own personal feelings out of it. Obviously, I'd like to do it but I want to be doing it for the right reasons. We're really not missing a Grade 1 over here by going, so it kind of falls in the schedule,” Motion said. “We're not going for the party, because we can't go. We're going because we want to give the filly a shot against the best horses.

“To me, it's always about the challenge. I think sometimes in racing we spend too much time trying to duck other horses,” he added. “Racing, ultimately, is about the challenge and seeing who's got the fastest horse. I think that's why we're doing it, and it's exciting.”

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