Victory Way Leads Smarty Jones Field

Wygod Equine's Victory Way (City of Light) leads a nine-horse field in Parx's Tuesday feature, the GIII Smarty Jones S. A winner of two of his three starts, the homebred's only defeat came in when narrowly third in the seven furlong GIII Bayshore S. at Aqueduct Apr. 8.

To get the win, the Bill Mott trainee will have to take on another homebred in Salute the Stars (Candy Ride {Arg}) for Gary and Mary West. Riding a three-race win streak, including the Pegasus S. at Monmouth at this distance over GII Louisiana Derby winner Kingsbarns (Uncle Mo), he ran out of gas in the step up in class when seventh last out in the GI TVG.com Haskell S.

Another lightly-raced entry is Army Times (Into Mischief) for Peter Brant and trainer Chad Brown. Entered off a 6 1/4-length win facing allowance horses at Monmouth July 22, he steps up into graded-stakes company for the first time Tuesday.

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Arabian Knight Favored Over Mage in Haskell

Undefeated two-for-two GIII Southwest S. winner and 'TDN Rising Star' Arabian Knight (Uncle Mo) has been made the slight 5-2 morning-line favorite for Saturday's $1-million, GI TVG.com Haskell S. at Monmouth Park at the expense of GI Kentucky Derby winner Mage (Good Magic), who was tabbed as the joint 3-1 second choice alongside GI Toyota Blue Grass S. winner and 'TDN Rising Star' Tapit Trice (Tapit). The top three choices drew post positions eight, four, and five, respectively.

“I believe the horse's entire body of work and his entire career is what defines him,” said Mage's co-owner Ramiro Restrepo about the Derby winner. “It's not just one race. He had a great break. It's the start of the second half of his 3-year-old year. We feel he's good enough to compete and put forth a quality effort. Hopefully, that's good enough to get the job done and put forth a great performance and keep it moving. We're happy we have a talented horse who's feeling good, and we hope he'll give a great account of himself Saturday.”

Arabian Knight may be light on experience, but he has the services of Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, who has won the Haskell a record nine times.

“It's exciting to win the Haskell,” Baffert told track officials via phone from California. “It's a race where every year when I'm [evaluating] my 2-year-olds I always try to figure out who's going to be my Haskell horse. The reason we've always been so successful there is because I always bring my best horses there. You need to do that if you're going to win that race.”

Todd Pletcher, another Hall of Famer, has won the Haskell three times and will send Tapit Trice.

“Post position five works well,” said Pletcher. “He's had a history of drawing inside so that works out well. It looks like there's plenty of pace for him to run at.”

Wednesday's Haskell draw | Bill Denver/EQUI-PHOTO

Two-time Eclipse Award winner Brad Cox has won the Haskell the last two years with Cyberknife (Gun Runner) and Mandaloun (Into Mischief). He will saddle Salute the Stars (Candy Ride {Arg}), who won Monmouth's Pegasus S. June 17.

Mandaloun and Cyberknife were more accomplished colts. But he acted like a good horse the day he walked into the barn. That's only one exciting thing about him,” said Cox. “I don't know if the fact he's run over the track and won on it gives us an advantage, but it's a plus. These are obviously very good horses we're running against. It's definitely not a disadvantage.”

From the rail out, with jockeys and morning-line odds, the Haskell field includes: Geaux Rocket Ride (Candy Ride {Arg}) (Mike Smith, 9-2); Awesome Strong (Awesome Slew) (Jose Batista, 30-1); Salute the Stars (Joel Rosario, 8-1); Mage (Javier Castellano, 3-1); Tapit Trice (Luis Saez, 3-1); Howgreatisnate (Speightster) (Paco Lopez, 20-1); Extra Anejo (Into Mischief) (Tyler Gaffalione, 5-1); and Arabian Knight (John Velazquez, 5-2).

The Haskell will be run for the 56th time and is a “Win and You're In” race for the $6-million GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita as part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series.

The Haskell undercard will also feature the $600,000 GI United Nations S., the $500,000 GIII Molly Pitcher S., the $400,000 GIII Monmouth Cup S., and the $300,000 GIII WinStar Matchmaker S.

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Salute the Stars Upsets Kingsbarns In Pegasus Thriller

Salute the Stars continued his rise through the ranks here with a determined victory in the Pegasus S. at Monmouth Park.

Coming into the race riding a two race win-streak which began when he wrapped his juvenile season with a victory against maidens at Ellis on the grass, he moved from John Ortiz to Brad Cox before his seasonal bow last out May 14 in an off-turf allowance. Winning there by a neck, he was made the 5-2 second choice behind Kingsbarns, who was reappearing for the first time since his 14th place in the GI Kentucky Derby. Bumped and steadied at the start, Salute the Stars pulled early for his head, leaving him rank entering the clubhouse turn. Joel Rosario was finally able to reason with his charge as he settled in fourth off the rail on the backstretch, and slowly inched closer from the three path in the final bend. Rallying to the outside of runners, he set his sights on Kingsbarn passing the furlong marker and surged late to run that one down by a neck on the wire.

“I was not feeling good on the backside. He was too aggressive going into the first turn. On the backside Joel did a good job getting him to relax. Even at the three-eighths pole I thought `he's not going anywhere.',” admitted Trace Messina, Brad Cox's assistant. “But when he straightened out he got going. We'll see [on the GI Haskell]. Obviously that's an option. We have a lot of 3-year-olds in this division. But that's a possibility for sure.”

The most accomplished runner of his siblings thus far, Salute the Stars is the first black-type winner for Star Sighting. He has a 2-year-old full-sister Jazz Party, and a 2023 half-sister by Hard Spun. Said dam herself hails from a busy family as the half-sister to MGISW Carpe Diem (Giant's Causeway); GISW & MGSW Farrell (Malibu Moon); MGSP Doncaster Rover (War Chant); GISW J. B.'s Thunder (Thunder Gulch); and GSP Semper Fortis (Distorted Humor). Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

PEGASUS S., $150,000, Monmouth, 6-17, 3yo, 1 1/16m, 1:43.87, ft.
1–SALUTE THE STARS, 120, c, 3, by Candy Ride (Arg)
           1st Dam: Star Sighting, by Malibu Moon
           2nd Dam: Rebridled Dreams, by Unbridled's Song
           3rd Dam: Key Cents, by Corridor Key
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN. O/B-Gary & Mary West Stables Inc. (KY); T-Brad H. Cox; J-Joel Rosario. $90,000. Lifetime Record: 4-3-1-0, $210,960.
2–Kingsbarns, 122, c, 3, Uncle Mo–Lady Tapit, by Tapit. ($250,000 Ylg '21 FTSAUG; $800,000 2yo '22 FTFMAR). O-Spendthrift Farm LLC; B-Parks Investment Group, LLC (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher. $30,000.
3–Howgreatisnate, 122, g, 3, Speightster–Bee Dees Bid, by Tapit. ($67,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP). O-Imaginary Stables; B-B. D. Gibbs Farm, LLC (KY); T-Elizabeth L. Dobles. $15,000.
Margins: NK, 2 1/4, NO. Odds: 2.90, 0.50, 10.20.
Also Ran: Subrogate, Classic Catch, No Confession. Scratched: Alternate Reality, Moreau.

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