Long Shot Alert: Walk Close in the Sands Point

Despite being in direct competition with each other, Saturday’s Sands Point at Belmont Park and Arlington Park’s Pucker Up have both attracted a solid field of young turf fillies. With Keeneland’s Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth Challenge Cup just four weeks away, the pair of graded races should serve as excellent semifinals on the road to Lexington. I’ll have more on the Pucker Up on these pages come Saturday, but for now, let’s take a look at the Grade 2, $500,000 Sands Point. Topped by the likes of Xcellence, Daring Dancer, A Little Bit Sassy, Ball Dancing, and Sea Queen, it is easy to call this quite the loaded race. The last mentioned is trained by Christophe Clement, and while she certainly is one of the ones to beat in here, my interest lands on another from the powerful Clement barn.

Clement’s “other horse” is Walk Close, and for a 15-1 shot on the morning line, this one has a ton to like. A winner in her only start at two, Walk Close took to the Belmont turf swimmingly one year ago with a smart two-length debut score going seven furlongs. After several months away, the Highland Yard owned filly came back this year with a pair of tough victories. In May she just got up in an allowance race, and then in June, she repeated the feat in the Wild Applause Stakes. Both victories were by a nose, and both came on the Belmont Park turf.

In her only race since, Walk Close was bumped hard early in the Tenski Stakes last month at Saratoga and shuffled back. She kicked it in late to rally within less than two lengths of the winner at the wire, but only checked in fourth. Despite of the ungraded statues, there were some nice fillies in there, so the performance wasn’t all bad, but back at Belmont, and with more room for her and jockey Cornelio Velasquez to maneuver in the stretch, improvement is expected.

This strong field in the Sands Point is a bit of a step up in class for the lightly raced daughter of Tapit, but not a huge one. We know she likes Belmont (undefeated in three starts), and she has every right to bounce back strong after her troubled early part last time at Tenski. The extra furlong on Saturday shouldn’t hurt a bit either.

Looking for some odds this weekend? Take a long look at Walk Close in the Sands Point; just check out her determination to win while scoring in her last start at Belmont, in the Wild Applause Stakes …