Pletcher Sends No Word, En Wye Cee For Knickerbocker

Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher will saddle a formidable duo in En Wye Cee and No Word in Sunday's Grade 3, $150,000 Knickerbocker, a nine-furlong inner turf test for 3-year-olds and up at Belmont Park.

Wertheimer and Frere's homebred No Word, a 4-year-old Silent Name colt, competed in both legs of last year's Turf Triple series, finishing third in the 1 3/16-mile Saratoga Derby Invitational and second in the Grade 1 Belmont Derby.

No Word made both of his two starts this year at Saratoga Race Course, including a wide-traveling eighth in an optional-claimer in August ahead of a game second last out in the 1 1/16-mile Grade 2 Bernard Baruch Handicap, contested over yielding ground on September 6.

“First start back he had a bad trip and was hung out wide the whole way,” Pletcher said. “I thought he ran much better next time, but unfortunately didn't have much of a pace to run at. He ran well in spite of that.”

Out of the A.P. Indy mare Listen A.P., No Word is a full brother to multiple graded-stakes winner Silentio.

“He's a horse we always thought had graded stake ability, so we're giving it another try,” Pletcher said.

Waterford Stable's homebred En Wye Cee, a 5-year-old son of Declaration of War, finished a prominent third in last year's Knickerbocker to close out his 2020 campaign.

The lightly-raced bay, who sports a ledger of 8-3-0-4, made his seasonal debut with a third-place finish to Knickerbocker-rival L'Imperator in a nine-furlong optional-claiming tilt on August 4 over firm footing at the Spa. He was scheduled to run in the Bernard Baruch but was scratched following an afternoon rainstorm softened the sod.

“He's a consistent horse. He got a little unlucky and had to scratch with the soft turf the other day, so hopefully the ground remains firm and he gets a chance to do his thing,” Pletcher said.

Hall of Famer John Velazquez will pilot En Wye Cee from post 8, while Hall of Famer Javier Castellano will guide No Word from post 9.

Phipps Stable's homebred Breaking the Rules finished fourth as the mutuel favorite in last year's Knickerbocker.

Trained by Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey, who won back-to-back editions of the Knickerbocker with Boisterous in 2012-13, the now 6-year-old Breaking the Rules will look to make the grade while making his third start of the campaign.

Following an off-the-board effort in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational in January at Gulfstream Park, the multiple graded-stakes placed son of War Front returned off a seven-month layoff to best Knickerbocker-rival Sacred Life in a one-mile optional-claimer contested over firm footing at the Spa.

Joel Rosario has the call from post 2.

Flying P Stable's Temple, a 5-year-old Temple City gelding, will look to go from claim-to-fame for trainer Tom Morley.

The dark bay was haltered for $80,000 out of a fifth-place finish in June at Belmont and after an off-the-board effort in the restricted Lure in August at Saratoga, Temple posted a solid one-length score in a 10-furlong optional-claiming event which garnered a 93 Beyer Speed Figure.

Kendrick Carmouche picks up the mount from post 5.

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Four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown will saddle Madaket Stables, Wonder Stables and Robert V. LaPenta's L'Imperator and Michael Dubb, Madaket Stables, Wonder Stables and Michael J. Caruso's Sacred Life.

A 4-year-old French-bred son of Holy Roman Emperor, L'Imperator launched his career in France winning two of four starts. He joined Brown last year and finished seventh in the Grade 3 Saranac last August in his lone sophomore start.

L'Imperator opened his campaign with a 1 3/4-length score in a nine-furlong optional-claiming tilt on August 4 at the Spa and finished an even third last out in the Bernard Baruch.

Sacred Life, a 6-year-old French-bred Siyouni ridgling, will look for his first win of the campaign while stepping up in distance from a pair of competitive efforts at one mile at the Spa, finishing fourth in the Grade 3 Forbidden Apple in July and a closing second last out in an optional-claiming event on August 29.

Manny Franco will guide L'Imperator from post 4, while Sacred Life will emerge from post 3 under Jose Ortiz.

Rounding out the field are Corelli [post 6, Junior Alvarado], winner of the Grade 3 Singspiel in August at Woodbine; multiple graded stakes winner Field Pass [post 1, Dylan Davis]; and graded-stakes placed Epic Bromance [post 7, Jose Lezcano].

The Knickerbocker is slated as Race 8 on Sunday's 9-race which also features the Grade 2, $250,000 Beldame at nine furlongs for fillies and mares; and the Grade 3, $150,000 Futurity, a six-furlong turf test for 2-year-olds offering a “Win and You're In” berth to the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint.

America's Day at the Races will present daily coverage and analysis of the fall meet at Belmont Park on the networks of FOX Sports. For the complete broadcast schedule, visit https://www.nyra.com/belmont/racing/tv-schedule.

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Vella Pair Primed For Cup & Saucer Stakes Challenge Sunday At Woodbine

Trainer Dan Vella will send out the duo of Spring Mountain and Where's Neal in Sunday's $250,000 Cup & Saucer Stakes, at Woodbine.

A 1 1/16-mile event for Canadian-bred 2-year-olds run over the E.P. Taylor Turf Course, the Cup & Saucer has drawn 11 starters, including Spring Mountain, a son of Silent Name (JPN), and Where's Neal, a son of Society's Chairman. The Grade 3 $150,000 Durham Cup (1 1 /16-miles on the Tapeta), for three-year-olds and upwards, and the Grade 3 $150,000 Ontario Matron (also 1 1/16-miles on the Tapeta), for fillies & mares, three-year-olds and upwards, are also on tap.

Bred in Ontario by Linda Mason, Where's Neal heads into the Cup & Saucer off a maiden-breaking victory in the Bull Page Stakes, contested over one mile on the Inner Turf, on September 17. The gelding set the pace and crossed the line a three-quarters of a length winner in a time of 1:40.05 over firm ground.

Vella was surprised to see where Where's Neal began his Bull Page journey but pleased with how it concluded.

“I was a little worried after a few 100 yards when he ended up on the front end,” admitted Vella. “I really didn't want that. We were hoping to sit in behind the speed, but down the backside you could see that he was going pretty easily and he was kind of on cruise control, just going along nicely. Considering he did all the hard work and still got the job done we were very pleased. We'd much rather see him sit behind the pace a little bit rather than be on it, but it was what it was. They're just learning.”

Owned by Sea Glass LLC, Where's Neal debuted on August 29 in the Simcoe Stakes, a 6 ½-furlong Tapeta event, finishing second to Ironstone, who is set to contest the Shady Well Stakes on Saturday at Woodbine.

Spring Mountain has had two eventful starts to his career, including his career bow on September 2 at Woodbine, when he ducked out and then lugged in during the 6 ½-furlong race on the E.P. Taylor.

One race later, in the Bull Page, he hopped at the start before recovering to rally and net third spot in the race won by his stablemate.

“The hop, it wasn't much,” noted Vella, who co-owns the gelding with Stephan and Rita Shefsky, Willy and Toby Kruh, and Solomon Pillersdorf. “I don't think it was much of a problem. He did a little hop out of the gate… they're young horses, so those things happen. I think the sharper turn didn't help his chances. Without that sharp turn in the Cup & Saucer, I think he'll be much better.”

Vella, who has 856 career wins to date, saw promise in both horses early on.

“These two, you knew right from the start that they had potential. Where's Neal had the benefit of going to Florida. Mike Cooke had him down there for me and he told me that this was a pretty nice horse. We knew that. The horse came up here to Woodbine six weeks before I ran him the first time.

“Spring Mountain stayed here and he was out at CamHaven Farms all winter. Right from the start… big, strong horse and big stride. He does everything kind of aggressively. His mother [Moonlit Beauty] was a great horse. We bought him mostly on looks. He's just a big, good-looking horse.”

Do the young horses make the veteran trainer grow a few more grey hairs or keep him young?

“Is it possible they do both?” offered Vella. “You certainly look forward to going to work when you have nice horses. There's no doubt about that. But good horses are always a little more stress, that's for sure.”

Personality-wise, Spring Mountain and Where's Neal are polar opposites.

“They're very different animals. Spring Mountain is a big, strong, kind of coarser horse. He's a bit of a bull. Where's Neal is a more refined horse. Both are about the same size, good-sized horses. Where's Neal has a very easy-going attitude where he wants to do things right and Spring Mountain is more, 'Let's just go and we'll figure the rest out later.'”

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Other contenders include Dancin in Da'nile, a Sam-Son Farm homebred trained by Gail Cox.

The son of Pioneerof the Nile made his debut a winning one, eking out a neck victory in a seven-furlong Tapeta race originally scheduled for the turf.

“I thought his first start was very impressive,” praised Cox. “He was a little bit green, but really ran a very good race. I think he should take a step forward from that.”

Stronger Together, bred by Jim Dandy Stable and owned by Spruce Park Stable, heads into his second lifetime start and first stakes appearance off a third-place finish on September 5.

Sent off at 5-1 in the one mile and 70-yard Tapeta race, the son of Liam's Map, trained by Sid Attard, was steadied at the start finding himself 11 lengths behind the leader at the quarter-mile pole. Fifth at the stretch call, Stronger Together netted the show award, beaten just a neck for top spot.

“He's been doing really well,” said Attard, two wins shy of 2,100 for his career, as of October 6. “He came out of the gate slow, but he ran a huge race. I was very happy with how he recovered from that start and how hard he was running at the end of the race. He was really running hard. He's coming into this race in very good shape. He had a work last Sunday (October 3, five furlongs, 1:01.60, breezing) and he worked very, very good. He's doing very well ahead of this race. He's a very nice horse.”

Hall of Fame trainer Jim Day has won 10 editions of the Cup & Saucer, including seven straight runnings from 1984-1990.

The Cup & Saucer is slated as race eight on Sunday's 11-race card. First post time is 12:55 p.m. Fans can watch and wager on all the action via HPIbet.com and the Dark Horse Bets app.

$250,000 CUP & SAUCER STAKES

Post – Horse – Jockey – Trainer

1 – Spring Mountain – Luis Contreras – Dan Vella

2 – God of Love – Rafael Hernandez – Mark Casse

3 – Hidden Honor – Antonio Gallardo – Kevin Attard

4 – Shamateur – Emma-Jayne Wilson – Michael Doyle

5 – Dancin in Da'nile – Shaun Bridgmohan – Gail Cox

6 – Mentoring – Keveh Nicholls – Philip Hall

7 – Stronger Together – Justin Stein – Sid Attard

8 – Fast Feet – Kazushi Kimura – Mark Casse

9 – Brutality (S) – Gary Boulanger – Michael De Paulo

10 – Where's Neal – David Moran – Dan Vella

11 – Chairman Bob – Patrick Husbands – Kevin Attard

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Practical Joke Filly Tops CTHS Ontario Canadian Premier Yearling Sale

The Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society (Ontario Division) Canadian Premier Yearling Sale posted gains in gross and average sale price on Wednesday, led by a $180,000 filly by Practical Joke.

Wednesday's auction saw 158 horses change hands for revenues of $3,144,400 (Canadian), up 12 percent from last year's sale, when 142 horses brought $2,795,300. The average sale price rose one percent to $19,901 from $19,685, while the median dipped 31 percent to $10,000 after finishing at $14,500 in 2020.

The ticket read “J. Nelson” on the buyer line for the sale-topper, Hip 75, a Practical Joke filly who hammered for $180,000.

The bay filly is the second foal out of the multiple stakes-winning Silent Name mare Silent Treat, hailing from the family of Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint winner Wavell Avenue.

Bred in Ontario by Stablemates, the filly was consigned by Shannondoe Farm.

The auction's most expensive colt was a son of Silent Name who sold to William and Anne Scott for $160,000.

Offered as Hip 94, the bay colt is out of the stakes-placed City Zip mare Sweet Bama Breeze, whose five foals to race are all winners, including stakes winner Will She, and stakes-placed Sweet Grass Creek and Sweet Crimson. Graded stakes-placed runners Bushetta Buck and Railroad are in the Ontario-bred's extended family.

Hill 'n' Dale Sales Agency consigned the colt, as agent.

To view the auction's full results, click here.

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Silent Poet Dashes To Victory In Highlander Stakes At Woodbine

Trying Grade 1 stakes company for the first time, Caravel darted out to the lead early in the Highlander Stakes, but Silent Poet was fastest at the end in the last of the stakes races on the Queen's Plate card at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario. The Stronach Stables 6-year-old gelding hung back in third for the first five furlongs of the six-furlong Highlander and took over the lead in the stretch to find the wire first and get his first Grade 1 victory.

Chuck Willis was fastest out of the gate, but Caravel, fresh off her Grade 3 win in the Caress at Saratoga, took over in the first quarter of the Highlander, leaving Chuck Willis in second on the rail and Silent Poet in third on her outside. The filly held on to the lead through early fractions of :22.35 for the first quarter and :45.16 for the half-mile, but, as the field hit the top of the stretch, Silent Poet kicked into gear, passing the filly to take the lead with Admiralty Pier out toward the middle of the track mounting his challenge. At the wire, Silent Poet was a half-length in front, with Admiralty Pier passing Caravel for second, the filly holding off City Boy for third. Honey Won't, Chuck Willis, Old Chestnut, and Turned Aside rounded out the field.

The final time for the six furlongs over a firm E.P. Taylor turf course was 1.07.98. Find this race's chart here.

Silent Poet paid $21.90, $9.80, and $4.70. Admiralty Pier paid $9.60 and $5.20. Caravel paid $2.10.

Bred in Ontario by Adena Springs, Silent Poet is by Silent Name, sired by Sunday Silence, out of the unraced mare Cara Bella, by Ghostzapper. Trained by Nicholas Gonzalez, he was ridden by Justin Stein. The G1 Highlander is Silent Poet's first win in three starts in 2021 for a lifetime record of 11 wins in 21 starts.

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