On Saturday at Del Mar, the featured race is the inaugural edition of the $100,000 Red Carpet Handicap. The Grade 3 race, slated to be run at a mile and three-eighths on the turf, has drawn a field of eleven fillies and mares with one other listed as also-eligible.
Graham Motion will saddle the 7-2 morning line favorite, Appealing Cat. Bred and owned by George Strawbridge’s Augustin Stable, the five-year-old daughter of Successful Appeal is going for her first graded stakes victory and was last seen finishing third, beaten under a length, in the Dowager Stakes at Keeneland. She has one win from four starts this year and five over the course of her career. Rafael Bejarano will be aboard from the rail.
Second choice at 9-2 on the morning line is Scooter Bird for trainer John Sadler. Purchased for $200,000 as a juvenile, she has won four of her sixteen starts and is going for the first stakes win of her career. She delivered as the heavy favorite against allowance company on the turf at Santa Anita last time out for her third win of the year. Corey Nakatani, her regular rider, will remain aboard and they will break from post position eleven.
Also in the field and a longshot at 15-1 is Three Hearts, a homebred for Team Valor International. The four-year-old daughter of Hat Trick (JPN) will be making her first start for trainer Neil Drysdale and attempting to earn her first win of the year. The graded stakes placed filly has been fourth in her last two races and has been training steadily since joining the Drysdale barn. Joe Talamo will be aboard from post position eight.
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.
Leave a comment