Stakes action January 2 at Aqueduct features the $100,000 Fred Cappossela with a compact field of five three year-olds schedule to contest the six furlong event on the inner-dirt track.
Chad Brown trains the 7/5 morning line favorite, Majestic Affair with Kendrick Carmouche in the irons. Majestic Affair won two of four starts during his two year-old campaign including a second place finish in the James F. Lewis Stakes November 15 at Laurel Park. In his only other stakes attempt, Majestic Affair finished eighth in the Grade 2 Saratoga Special Stakes. The son of Majesticperfection will be making his fifth start at his fifth different racetrack having run at Canterbury, Saratoga, Parx, and Laurel.
2/1 second choice Joe Franklin is also well-traveled with starts at Laurel, Keeneland and Penn National in his three-race campaign as a juvenile. The Kelly Breen trainee won two of those starts with the lone blemish a second place effort in his debut. Since beating allowance foes November 29 at Penn National, Joe Franklin has trained forwardly at Belmont for his stakes debut.
Ship Disturber (5/2 ML) has just one career start to his credit, but made that effort count with an impressive debut win against maiden special weight company November 29 at Aqueduct. The Richard Violette trainee shows a steady work tab at Aqueduct since that performance and could move forward in start number two despite the step up in class.
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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