OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Chad Brown will point his bevy of stakes winners from the first weekend in May to races at the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga during the first week of June.
Spirit of St Louis, who won the Grade 1 Old Forester Turf Classic on May 3 at Churchill Downs, will be pointed to the Grade 1 Manhattan Stakes on the Belmont Stakes undercard. Typically run at 1 1/4 miles, the Manhattan will be run at 1 3/16 miles because of the configuration of Saratoga’s turf course.
Regardless, it will be the longest distance at which Spirit of St Louis has run in his career, during which he has won 11 of 16 starts.
“This year, he seems to be effectively stretching out,” Brown said. “He seems to be getting more stamina, maybe lost some of his speed, but he’s gaining range.”
It was only last fall when Brown gave the New York-bred a Grade 1 opportunity in the Coolmore Turf Mile, where he finished fifth. He came back to end his season with a New York-bred stakes victory in the Mohawk. Prior to his Turf Classic victory, Spirit of St Louis won the Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational and was fourth in the Muniz Memorial Classic, both at 1 1/8 miles.
Brown said Zulu Kingdom, who won the Grade 1 American Turf for 3-year-old males on May 3, will likely make his next start in the Grade 3, $300,000 Pennine Ridge on June 7 at Saratoga. The Pennine Ridge is run at 1 1/16 miles, the same distance as the American Turf.
Brown had previously mentioned the $400,000 Penn Mile on May 30 as a potential target for Zulu Kingdom.
“The consensus was to give him a little more time and probably go Pennine Ridge into the Hall of Fame,” said Brown, referring the Grade 2, $400,000 National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame Stakes on Aug 1 at Saratoga.
Dynamic Pricing, who won the Grade 3 Beaugay Stakes on May 4 at Aqueduct, will likely be given a Grade 1 opportunity in the $500,000 Just a Game on June 6 at Saratoga.
“She was a textbook case of a horse that needed a mental break. She wasn’t physically tailing off, but mentally she was,” said Brown, who stopped on Dynamic Pricing after a third-place finish in the Winter Memories on Sept. 13 at Aqueduct. “It doesn’t always work, but it did for her. We’ll see if she maintains her form.”
Brown said that Garamond, who won a three-horse allowance race April 27 at Aqueduct, is pointing to the Pegasus Stakes on June 14 at Monmouth. The Pegasus is the prep for the Grade 1, $1 million Haskell Stakes on July 19.
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