Are You Kidding Me headlines the competitive field as the morning line favorite at odds of 5-2 for trainer Roger Attfield. A five-year-old son of Run Away and Hide, he has four wins from nineteen starts and is a multiple graded stakes winner. Last time out, he made his second start of the year a winning one with a victory over four rivals in the Eclipse Stakes (G2) over Woodbine’s synthetic main track. Alan Garcia will be back aboard and they will break from post seven.
Second choice at 7-2 on the morning line is the veteran gelding Za Approval for trainer Mark Casse. A seven-year-old son of Ghostzapper, he has eight career victories to his credit and is a three-time graded stakes winner. He was fifth in the Nijinsky Stakes (G2) last year and will be trying to earn his first victory of the year. Patrick Husbands will be in the irons and they will break from the rail.
Also in the field at morning line odds of 6-1 is Golden Sabre, one of two horses in the race for trainer Malcolm Pierce. A five-year-old son of Medaglia d’Oro bred and owned by Sam-Son Farm, he is out of the multiple graded stakes winning mare Strike Softly. He has won three of his nine starts and will be trying to earn the first graded stakes victory of his career with Luis Contreras aboard from post three.
The field is set for the $1 million Haskell, where Nyquist will be trying to re-stake his claim as the top three-year-old in the country.
On Sunday at Monmouth Park, the featured race is the $300,000 United Nations Stakes. Scheduled to be run at a mile and three-eighths on the turf, the Grade 1 event has drawn a field of ten colts and geldings.
On Sunday at Monmouth Park, the featured race is the $150,000 Pegasus Stakes, a key prep race for the Haskell Invitational (G1). The Grade 3 event will be contested at a mile and a sixteenth and has drawn a field of seven three-year-olds.
With five grade 1 races and a grade 2, the undercard for the June 11 Belmont stakes could be the best single day of racing on the calendar outside of the Breeders’ Cup.
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