Derby Runner-Up May Head To Belmont
Louisiana Derby runner-up Mark Valeski arrived at Belmont Park from Kentucky on Sunday afternoon, May 6, in advance of his next start, Saturday’s (May 12) Grade 2, $200,000 Peter Pan Stakes, a key prep for the Belmont Stakes.
Trainer Larry Jones said the threeyear old Proud Citizen colt would likely work Monday morning with regular jockey Rosie Napravnik aboard in preparation for the 1 1/8- mile race.
Although Mark Valeski had qualified for the Kentucky Derby with earnings of $310,952, Jones and owner/breeder Brereton C. Jones withheld him from the race after he failed to dazzle in his final pre-Derby work.
“We’re OK, we’re happy with our decision,” added Jones. “We were going to have to try and be working out a trip like so many others were [in the Derby].”
While the long-range plan for Mark Valeski is Saratoga Race Course’s Grade 1, $1 million Travers Stakes on Aug. 25, the trainer did not rule out a start in the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Stakes on June 9.
“If he runs like a crazy machine Saturday we’d consider it,” he said. “But our plan is to have him ready for the Travers and a campaign in the fall.”
The Lumber Guy breezed on Monday morning for the first time since his 2 3/4-length victory in the Grade 2 Jerome at Aqueduct Racetrack, and his connections reportedly decided to run him next in Saturday’s Peter Pan Stakes.
The New York-bred Grand Slam colt has won three of his four career starts, his only loss coming with a fifth-place finish behind Gemologist in the Grade 1 Resorts World Casino New York City Wood Memorial.
In addition to Mark Valeski and The Lumber Guy, the field for the Peter Pan is likely to include Good Morning Diva and Big Screen, first and second in the Calder Derby on Apr. 14; Hakama, third in the Grade 3 Illinois Derby last time out; Le Bernardin, who has won two of his three starts, most recently taking a first-level allowance at Aqueduct on Apr. 7; Right to Vote, who was third in the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes last fall and returned to win an optional claimer at Gulfstream Park on Mar. 24; Stirred Up, third in the Jerome, and Street Life, the Wood Memorial sixth-place finisher who turned in a 1:02.97 five-furlong breeze on the Belmont main track on Sunday.
Turf winners eye Belmont day
Both of last Saturday’s Grade 3 turf stakes winners at Belmont Park were said to be doing well at their respective barns Sunday morning, with Phipps Stable’s Boisterous resting comfortably after taking the $150,000 Fort Marcy Handicap, and Phillips Racing Partnership’s Winter Memories basking in the glow of her $150,000 Beaugay Handicap victory.
Boisterous’ Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey had two graded stakes wins to celebrate, having also posted a mild upset with Hungry Island in last Friday’s (May 4) Grade 2 Churchill Distaff Turf Mile Stakes on the Kentucky Derby undercard. Mc- Gaughey said Sunday that both horses could make their next starts on Belmont Stakes Day, June 9, with Boisterous aiming for the Grade 1, $500,000, 1 1/4-mile Woodford Reserve Manhattan Handicap and Hungry Island eyeing the Grade 1, $500,000 Just a Game Stakes, run at one mile on the turf.
“He seemed to come back good,” McGaughey said of Boisterous. “I’m pleased with his race, pleased with him, hopefully we’ve got a fun year ahead. He’s a really nice horse and we’ll see what happens. He was a two-other-than this time last year, he had just won two-other-than at Keeneland, and then he won [Belmont’s Three Coins Up overnight Stakes on May 22, 2011] and then he went into a Grade 1 [the Man o’War on July 9, 2011 at Belmont].”
After a solid third-place showing in the Man o’War Stakes followed by a disappointing fifth in the Grade 1 Sword Dancer Invitational at Saratoga Race Course, McGaughey opted to back off of Boisterous for a couple of months. The trainer’s patience was rewarded when the son of Distorted Humor closed out his 2011 campaign with back-to-back wins in the Grade 3 Knickerbocker Handicap at Belmont and the Grade 2 Red Smith Handicap at Aqueduct last fall.
“His last two races last year I thought were really good, especially the Red Smith, so I think that the distance is not going to be a problem with him. He’ll do whatever you want him to do – the pace was slow yesterday and he broke right off it. Going long, he can be where he wants to be and I think he’ll settle back. He likes some give in the ground. He doesn’t mind anything, unless it’s just really, really hard and then I think it might sting him a little bit.”
Emory Hamilton’s Hungry Island, who broke her maiden exactly a year ago Sunday, impressed the trainer with her late-running victory at Churchill.
“Hungry Island ran a great race and I would like to be able to run her back in the Just a Game with my big sights on the Diana Stakes [Grade 1, July 28, Saratoga Race Course], try and get her stretched out,” Mc- Gaughey said of the More Than Ready filly. “I just have to see how much this took out of her. It was extremely hot down there yesterday, but they don’t let her run but the last quarter of a mile, so it’s not like she was in a long drive or anything.”
After upsetting Winter Memories last August in Saratoga’s Grade 2 Woodford Reserve Lake Placid Stakes, Hungry Island lost three straight, finishing fourth to Winter Memories in the Grade 1 Garden City Stakes at Belmont on Sept. 17, 2011 third in the Grade 2 Miss Revere Stakes at Churchill in November, and third in her 2012 bow, a Keeneland allowance on April 11.
McGaughey he said he thought he ran the filly back too quickly in the Garden City and pointed to troubled trips in the other races, so he was surprised at her generous odds in the Churchill Distaff Turf Mile.
“I think [jockey John Velazquez and I] both went into the race yesterday with a lot of confidence. I’m walking over there and she’s 5- or 6- 1 on the board. I said ‘How are these people missing this? Or am I dumb?’ Because in those races, she did have pretty good excuses. One of them being mine and the others just kind of the fault of the race.”
Like Hungry Island, Winter Memories will now target the Just a Game, which is expected to serve as the fourth meeting between the two fillies. The pair debuted in the same Saratoga maiden race in September, 2010, with Winter Memories winning and Hungry Island finishing 4 1/2 lengths behind her in third.
“They’re two quality fillies,” said trainer Jimmy Toner. “Believe me. I’m glad to see [Hungry Island] run as well as she did yesterday, and I’m happy we ran well as we did. It should make for a good match up later on. We’re going back in the Just a Game.”
In her typical fashion, the stretch runner provided some anxious moments for her connections in the Beaugay as she had to wait for an opening before commencing her rally.
“She came out of it better than I did,” said Toner. “I was a little stressed afterward, but she’s fine.”
The Beaugay was the first time Eddie Castro had ridden Winter Memories, who gave the rider his 2,000th North American victory.
“It was nice for Eddie,” said Toner. “We’re really happy for him. He’s quiet and reserved but a real gentleman. I wasn’t aware it was his 2,000th win, but what a way to get your 2,000th in a stakes race like that.”
