On Saturday at Belmont Park, the $500,000 Hill Prince Stakes has drawn a field of ten with an international flair. Restricted to three-year-olds, the Grade 3 race will be run at a mile and an eighth on the inner turf course.
Mr. Speaker has been tabbed as the morning line favorite at odds of 5-2 for trainer Claude McGaughey. Bred and owned by Phipps Stable, the dark bay son of Pulpit is returning to the turf after a fifth-place finish in the Travers (G1) at Saratoga. Two starts back, he pulled off an upset victory over the Belmont Park turf course in the Belmont Derby (G1) to earn the fourth win of his career. Jose Lezcano will remain aboard and they will break from post nine.
Second choice at 3-1 on the morning line is Tourist for trainer Bill Mott. The dark bay colt, a son of Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Tiznow, is going for his fourth win of the year and has won three of his last four starts since switching to the turf. He was last seen finishing second in the Secretariat (G1) at Arlington Park. Manuel Franco will be aboard for the first time and they will break from post position five.
Christophe Clement will saddle Blacktype (FR), one of three horses making their stateside debut, at morning line odds of 8-1. The dark bay French-bred colt has been training steadily at Belmont Park since his last race at Longchamp in July and has won two of his nine starts. He will get Lasix for the first time and will have Cornelio Velasquez in the irons from post position 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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