wendell fong | Horse Racing Free Tips

A strong field of six sprinters takes to the track in the Grade 3, $100,000 Bold Ruler Handicap at Belmont Park on Saturday, Oct. 31.

Majestic Dunhill and Phat Man lead the field in terms of top efforts in these types of races. Majestic Dunhill won the City of Laurel Stakes earlier in his career before a runner-up effort in the G3 General George and most recently missed by a head at the distance at Belmont in preparation for this race. Phat Man, who returns from an eight month rest, leads the field in earnings, having banked more than a half-million, and won the G3 Fred W. Hooper Stakes in January.

Arch Cat has won 13 career races, the most in the field, and was competitive at the level last fall when second in the Dave's Friend Stakes. Share the Ride won the Mr. Prospector Stakes last month and appears to fit nicely with these. Mihos won the Mucho Macho Man Stakes in January 2019 but his only win since then came in April, and he was beaten nearly two lengths last month when third behind Majestic Dunhill. Wendell Fong won three of his first four races including the Gold Fever Stakes in May, 2019, but is winless in six races since then.

Majestic Dunhill gets preference over Phat Man as the one to beat in this year's Bold Ruler Handicap because he has won once at this seven furlong trip and been in the top three five times while Phat Man is trying the distance for the first time. Majestic Dunhill made his 2020 debut in April and finished third, then was entered in the G1 Carter Handicap in June but was scratched in favor of the First Defence Stakes the following day. Rallying strongly from sixth in a 13 horse field, Majestic Dunhill nearly posted the 11 to 1 upset in that race, earning a career-best 110 Equibase Speed Figure in the process, before two poorer efforts. However, Majestic Dunhill returned to strong competitive form last month when leading late and beaten a neck on the wire in a race at this distance at Belmont which appears to set him up for a top effort in the Bold Ruler.

Phat Man hasn't been seen since February but has run well of layoffs, as when second in December of last year and second last August. Since adding blinkers in the summer of 2019, Phat Man has won or placed in four of five races. The last two before the layoff were the best of his career, first winning the Fred W. Hooper Stakes then when second in the Gulfstream Park Mile. Both efforts earned the same 110 figures Majestic Dunhill earned in his best effort. With a series of strong workouts in the morning for his return to the races, Phat Man could easily pick up where he left off in the winter and be a force to reckon with in this race.

Arch Cat won three of four races this year but was disqualified from one of them. He won six of 15 last year and in seven of his last eight races earned figures from 101 to 108 so it appears he could be competitive with the main contenders here. His win in August was at this seven furlong distance and trainer Velazquez doesn't ship often from his base in Delaware but has won two of three at Belmont this year. Jockey Kendrick Carmouche rode Arch Cat to victory the last three times he was in the saddle and given the right scenario, Arch Cat could be capable of posting the mild upset in the Bold Ruler.

The rest of the field, with their best Equibase Speed Figures, is Mihos (102), Share the Ride (108) and Wendell Fong (108).

Win Contenders:
Majestic Dunhill
Phat Man
Arch Cat

Bold Ruler Handicap – Grade 3
Race 9 at Belmont Park
Saturday, October 31 – Post Time 4:57 PM E.T.
Seven Furlongs
Three Year Olds and Upward
Purse: $100,000

The post Equibase Analysis: Majestic Dunhill Vs. Phat Man In Bold Ruler appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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The way Natalia Lynch had it planned out in her mind is that she would spend another year or so working as an assistant trainer before trying to go out on her own. Then owner Al Gold offered to let her train nine horses from Gold Square LLC.

So on Aug. 25, Lynch, known by her nickname “Tally,” officially became a licensed trainer. A day later, she saddled her first starter.

And now on Saturday, with just the fourth starter in her burgeoning career, the 26-year-old Lynch will send out Wendell Fong in the $100,000 Mr. Prospector Stakes that headlines Monmouth Park's 14-race card that day.

“It's very surreal,” she said. “I haven't had time to sit down and process how quickly everything has happened yet. I remember the day I got my trainer's license I was walking out of the office and a trainer said to me `who do you work for?' I looked down at the license and said `I guess myself now.'

“I keep telling myself that this is not any different than what I have been doing for a long time. This is something I have been working for. When Al Gold gave me this opportunity I couldn't turn it down. So my one-year process before going out on my own turned into a two-week plan.”

Lynch, who will be based at Belmont Park, currently has 10 horses overall, eight from Gold Square (one was claimed). The Bethesda, Md. native was enrolled in the nursing school at Towson University when she started galloping horses, originally with the intent of becoming a jockey.

“I ended up not going back to school,” she said. “I started riding and worked my way up. I rode in a few amateur races last year. But my ultimate goal was to be a trainer.”

After becoming an assistant to Brittany Russell, Lynch then worked for Jeremiah Englehart. Most recently she was assisting Ray Handal.

Now she's in a race saddling a horse under her name against the likes of Hall of Famer Jerry Hollendorfer, Kelly Breen, Monmouth Park's leading trainer, and Gregg Sacco, who has multiple Grade 1 winner Mind Control entered in the field of seven 3-year-olds and up going six furlongs.

“It's terrifying to think about at times,” said Lynch. “I just look at it as at some point I hope I'm where they are. And I keep reminding myself that all of them started somewhere, too.”

A 4-year-old son of Flat Out, Wendell Fong (the horse's name is an obscure reference from an episode in the old “Frasier” TV sitcom) will need to re-capture his 3-year-old form if the colt is to become Lynch's first career winner. Robertino Diodoro trained the horse in his last start, when he was fifth in an $80,000 optional claimer at Saratoga on July 23. Jorge Vargas, Jr., who rode the horse his first six career starts and accounted for all three of Wendell Fong's career victories, has the mount.

“He's a really cool horse,” said Lynch. “His last race he was a little bit out of form but I had a thought to give him one more shot in a stakes race. He was running really good in stakes company at Oaklawn and I felt the race at Monmouth Park fit him. We put Vargas back on him because they did so well together when Wendell Fong was a 3-year-old.”

Lynch says she hopes her emotions don't get the best of her when she winds up saddling her first winner – but suspect they will if it comes in Saturday's Mr. Prospector Stakes.

“I don't know if I'll be able to talk after the race if we win it,” she said.

The post ‘All Of Them Started Somewhere, Too’: Natalia Lynch Chasing First Training Victory In Mr. Prospector Stakes appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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