Bob Baffert will saddle Luminance as the morning line favorite at odds of 9-5. Owned by Kaleem Shah, the pair will also team up with Dortmund in the Preakness Stakes (G1) on Saturday. A bay daughter of Tale of the Cat, she has won two of her three career starts and is trying to earn her first stakes victory after finishing second in the Santa Anita Oaks (G1). Martin Garcia will be in the irons and they will break from post position eight.
Second choice at 9-2 on the morning line is Danessa Deluxe for trainer Jorge Navarro. A chestnut daughter of Summer Bird, she has been on the board in five of her six starts and has two wins to her credit. She was third in the Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2) in her first start of the year and will be trying to earn her first stakes victory. John Velazquez will be aboard from the inside post.
Also in the field at morning line odds of 15-1 is Keen Pauline for trainer Dale Romans. A chestnut daughter of Pulpit, she will be stepping up to stakes competition after finishing fourth in an allowance race at Keeneland in April. She has one win from five outings and has hit the board a total of three times. Javier Castellano will be aboard from the outside post in the wide-open field.
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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