OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Miguel Clement believes Bottas could be his best 2-year-old and the colt’s 2 1/4-length maiden victory on Aug. 23 at Saratoga did little to dispel that notion. Friday, Bottas will have to bring his best when he faces winners for the first time in the Grade 2, $200,000 Pilgrim Stakes at Aqueduct.
The winner of the Pilgrim, at 1 1/16 miles on turf, gets a fees-paid berth into the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar on Oct. 31. The Pilgrim winner won the Juvenile Turf in 2019 (Structor) and in 2020 (Fire at Will), the last two years a North American-based horse won the Juvenile Turf, a race dominated by Europeans.
The Pilgrim drew a field of 11, but Repentless will scratch to run in Sunday’s $400,000 Bourbon Stakes at Keeneland.
Bottas, a son of Vekoma, rallied from last in a six-horse field to win a 1 1/16-mile maiden race at Saratoga. He took advantage of a contested pace and did overcome a little greenness as he did not switch leads in the stretch.
“Visually, he was quite impressive,” Clement said. “Was he that impressive or was it they went a bit quick? He was green. Hopefully he’s matured from then because he was dazzlingly impressive.”
Clement said Bottas has been working with some of his better older turf males including Tawny Port.
“He’s been working very well. He shows a great turn of foot in the mornings. He did on race day as well so hopefully he can emulate that this weekend,” Clement said.
Todd Pletcher has won six editions of the Pilgrim and Chad Brown has won four. Pletcher on Friday will be represented by Scope and Teleport. The pair finished first and second in that order on Aug. 17 at Saratoga only to have the result flipped by the stewards, who felt a bumping incident between the two was initiated by John Velazquez on Scope.
“It was a tricky one,” Pletcher said of the disqualification. “I thought Teleport initiated some contact and Scope came back and it was tit-for-tat in my eyes. We’re treating it like they both won and we’re moving forward.”
Brown sends out Capital Partner, who was rank but overcame that to win his debut on Aug. 2 at Saratoga. He was a bit eager again though seemed to settle better racing just off the pace in the Grade 3 With Anticipation. However, he couldn’t kick on when asked and finished third, 5 3/4 lengths behind Final Score.
Final Score is in Sunday’s Bourbon Stakes at Keeneland. That’s good news for Ray Handal, trainer of Heeere’s Johnny, who finished behind Final Score in all three of his starts, twice on turf.
Handal felt Heeere’s Johnny ran well in the With Anticipation despite there being a couple of things working against him.
“I think the slow pace and running back in 18 days definitely hurt him last time,” Handal said. “I think he should have pace to run at [Friday] and I have five weeks. If he takes a step forward hopefully it’s good enough to get the win. I’m not a guy who tries to run maidens in stakes, but you only get one shot at this stuff.”
That’s probably a theory trainer Bill Mott is utilizing as he runs Noble Dynasty back 20 days after he overcame post 11 in a 12-horse field to win his maiden by a nose over Quiet Power.
Truman’s Contender, sent out by Mark Casse, set a slow pace when winning a New York-bred maiden going 1 1/16 miles on turf on Aug. 30 at Saratoga.
Baytown Dream, trained by Paul McEntee, set rapid fractions with blinkers added before fading to third in the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Mile on Sept. 7.
Let’s Be Frank, third on debut for Mike Maker, gets blinkers for his second start and must overcome an outside draw.
Ball of Fire, winner of a slow dirt sprint at Monmouth for Joe Orseno on Aug. 30, completes the field.
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