Cezanne, Songbird’s sister lead 4 can’t-miss weekend races
There’s stakes action aplenty on the way this weekend with graded races at Belmont Park, Churchill Downs and Santa Anita Park on tap. On the undercards, we’ve found four races you’ll want to tune into as well featuring some 3-year-olds of note and older horses looking to get back to the stakes level.
Saturday’s seventh race at Churchill Downs (4:14 p.m. ET)
As an 8-1 shot, America’s Surprise isn’t highly billed on the morning line in this seven-furlong event for maiden fillies 3 and up. But she figures to take on at last some money as a half-sister to Songbird by American Pharoah. The Hall of Famer Jerry Hollendorfer trains this $325,000 purchase for Phoenix Thoroughbreds. She has raced just once, finishing third in an Aug. 11 flight at Del Mar topped by Inspiressa and Bast, who went on to run 1-2 next in the Del Mar Debutante (G1).
Saturday’s sixth race at Santa Anita Park (6:06 p.m. ET)
Finally, the time has come to see Cezanne at the races. Fetched by Coolmore partners for a record $3.65 million out of a 2-year-old sale last season, the Curlin colt is well-bred, but also showed speed in his breeze before the auction. Trainer Bob Baffert’s comments on his training certainly haven’t dispelled any confidence that this one could be the real deal. It’s a 6 1/2-furlong debut, and Cezanne has the rail under Flavien Prat. Also see where some of the smart money lands. Brazen, his stablemate in the No. 2 post, was seen Monday going stride and stride with Charlatan in his final work.
Saturday’s 10th race at Belmont Park (6:08 p.m. ET)
Baffert said he always has at least a few stalls during the warm weather months in New York, and that should serve Tale of the Union well. The New York-bred, who ran off with his Aug. 26, 2018, debut, obviously needed the race upon return May 15 when he was a flat seventh as the odds-on favorite in a Santa Anita allowance. Here, the former $925,000 auction buy drops into state-bred company as the 8/5 favorite to beat in an overflow field going 6 1/2 furlongs.
Sunday’s ninth race at Churchill Downs (5:18 p.m. ET)
Lone Sailor, a winner of three races in 26 career starts, is the tepid 4-1 morning line favorite for this wide-open allowance optional claiming event that’s a matter of finding who’s in the right form to win the 1 1/16-mile feature. Scars Are Cool, who ran in last year's Travers (G1), is a 6-1 shot who maintains upside exiting a victory at Gulfstream Park, while Core Beliefs, transferred from Peter Eurton to trainer Scott Hansen, has trained forwardly for his 5-year-old debut. Flowers for Lisa, a stakes-placed veteran, is among those horses formerly conditioned by Jorge Navarro landing in new barns.