Fanticola has been tabbed as the morning line favorite in the wide open field at odds of 7-2 for trainer Philip D’Amato. A five-year-old daughter of Silent Name (JPN), she has been on the board in fifteen of her sixteen starts and is a four-time winner. She has been second in her last two starts against graded stakes competition and will be trying to earn her first graded stakes victory. Joe Talamo, her regular rider, will be in the irons and they will break from post position seven.
Doug O’Neill will saddle Birdlover (GB) as the second choice at 4-1 on the morning line. A five-year-old daughter of Byron (GB), she has won six of her seventeen starts and has been on the board in all ten races over the Santa Anita turf. Last time out, she won the Mizdirection Stakes and will stretch back out to a mile. Mike Smith will be aboard and they will break from post position four.
Also in the field at morning line odds of 12-1 is Famous Alice who will be making her first start for trainer Tim Yakteen. Purchased for $110,000 as a juvenile, the bay daughter of Kitten’s Joy has won three of her eleven starts and will be trying to earn her first black type victory after winning an optional claiming race last time out. She will be reunited with Gary Stevens and they will break from post six.
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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