Five Stakes On Tap at Belmont Park Friday

Five stakes races worth a total of $1.2 million highlight the Friday card at Belmont Park on the second day of the inaugural Belmont Stakes Racing Festival presented by DraftKings, which culminates with the 147^th running of the Grade 1, $1.5 million Belmont Stakes on Saturday.

The 10-race Friday program is anchored by the Grade 2, $300,000 New York, featuring multiple Grade 1 winner Stephanie's Kitten, and the Grade 2, $250,000 True North, which boasts a competitive field of older sprinters led by Rock Fall, who will be making his stakes debut.

Also on tap for Friday are the $250,000 Belmont Gold Cup Invitational, a two-mile turf test introduced last year, and the $250,000 Tremont and $150,000 Jersey Girl.

Juddmonte Farms' Riposte looks to earn her second consecutive score in the New York, but the 5-year-old daughter of Dansili will have to overcome a one-two punch from the prohibitively favored entry of Stephanie's Kitten and Kitten's Queen to collect another trophy.

The late-closing Stephanie's Kitten and the front-running Kitten's Queen are Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey homebreds trained by Chad Brown. Stephanie's Kitten is by far the more formidable of the pair having won the Grade 1 Flower Bowl at 1 1/4 miles on the inner turf course here in September before finishing second to stablemate and Eclipse Award winner Dayatthespa in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf.

Stephanie's Kitten comes into the New York, to be contested at 1 1/4 miles on the inner turf course, fresh from her March victory in a Grade 3 affair at Tampa Bay Downs and will be making the second start of her 6-year-old campaign under regular rider and Hall of Famer John Velazquez.

Hall of Famer Bill Mott, who trains Riposte and equips her with blinkers for the first time, also saddles White Rose for Jake Ballis and former NBA player Rashard Lewis although the mares will run as uncoupled entries.

Beauty Parlor and Maximova, from the barn of Christophe Clement; Eastern Belle, Selenite, Irish Invader and Waltzing Matilda, making her first start in North America, will also be in the starting gate.

Stonestreet Stables' Rock Fall, a four-time winner in five career starts, graduates into stakes company in the six-furlong True North, joining a slew of familiar faces on the New York stakes circuit.

Trained by Todd Pletcher, Rock Fall is coming out of a nine-length optional allowance victory on April 18 at Keeneland, in which the 4-year-old Speightstown colt earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 109. Rock Fall, who has won both of his starts over the local course by a combined 12 ½ lengths, will be ridden by Javier Castellano as the 5-2 morning line favorite in the eight-horse field.

Rock Fall will be joined in the starting gate by a trio of local sprinting stars, Dads Caps for trainer Rudy Rodriguez, Clearly Now for Brian Lynch and Stallwalkin' Dude for David Jacobson. The 5-year-old Dads Caps, who is approaching at $1 million in career earnings following a Grade 1 win in the Carter Handicap last April at Aqueduct, is set at morning line odds of 4-1 and will be ridden by Jose Ortiz.

Stallwalkin' Dude will look to extend a four-race winning streak following a neck victory over Clearly Now in the Diablo Stakes on May 10. Set at odds of 5-1, he will be ridden by Angel Cruz. Meanwhile, Jose Lezcano has the call aboard Clearly Now, set as the second choice on the morning line at odds of 7-2.

Kicking off the stakes action on Friday is the 2^nd running of the Jersey Girl for 3-year-old fillies.

Stonestreet Stables' Cavorting, trained by Kiaran McLaughlin, is looking to rebound in her second start of the year following a disappointing ninth-place finish in the Grade 2 Davona Dale at Gulfstream Park.

A daughter of Bernardini, Cavorting will be cutting back in distance to six furlongs for the Jersey Girl and making a return to Belmont, where she broke her maiden last July. Following that win, Cavorting took the Grade 2 Adirondack at Saratoga Race Course before finishing seventh over an off-track in the Grade 1 Frizette at Belmont.

"She didn't handle the track that great [in the Davona Dale], so we're just drawing a line through that race," said McLaughlin. "She's training very well, we're happy with how she's doing and she should run well. She probably wants to go longer but she has won going six to 6 ½ furlongs, so we're back to what worked."

Set to depart from post position 5 with jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. aboard, Cavorting stands at 5-2 as the morning-line second choice.

Entered for owner Kaleem Shah and Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert is Enchanting Lady, a dark bay filly by Tale of the Cat who last out finished ninth after a wide trip in the Grade 3 Eight Belles at Churchill Downs. Previous to that race, she won the 6 ½-furlong Santa Paula Stakes at Santa Anita Park on April 15, picking up a 98 Beyer Speed Figure for the win.

The 8-5 morning-line favorite, Enchanting Lady will leave from post 7 with Martin Garcia in the irons.

Pletcher will enter Enchantress, set to make her local debut for owner Michael Tabor. In her last race, she endured a difficult trip to finish 12^th in the Grade 2 Davona Dale. Her last win came in an optional-claimer race on December 13 at Gulfstream going six furlongs.

With Velazquez aboard, Enchantress will leave from post 4.

Rounding out the field are Noble and a Beauty, Spark, Coco's Wildcat and I'm a Looker.   

Two weeks after debuting with a professional maiden victory, Starlight Racing's Uncle Vinny returns to Belmont as the 5-2 program favorite in the Tremont for juveniles going 5 ½ furlongs on the main track.

A bay son of 2010 2-Year-Old Champion Male Uncle Mo, Uncle Vinny was bumped twice on the backstretch and came three-wide around the turn before pulling clear to capture his May 21 unveiling by 4 ½ lengths in 58.70 seconds for five furlongs.

Velazquez returns to ride Uncle Vinny from post 7.

Six of Uncle Vinny's nine rivals in the Tremont are also coming off victories, including a pair of Wesley Ward-trained fillies in Banree and Moment Is Right. Banree, by Macho Uno, was a handy four-length winner April 16 at Keeneland while Moment Is Right, cross-entered in Thursday's $250,000 Astoria for fillies at Belmont, romped by 8 ½ lengths May 15 at Gulfstream Park.

Banree, to be ridden by Ramon Hernandez from post 5, is second choice on the morning line at 7-2 while Moment Is Right (Joel Rosario, post 9) is 6-1.

Also entered are maiden winners Cocked and Loaded, Cat Tree, Sweet Steppin and Dr. Shane, the latter in a 14-1 upset May 29 at Belmont; The Love Monkey, Swipe and Paynes Prairie.

The 10th and final race on Friday's card is the Belmont Gold Cup Invitational, which will be contested around three turns on the Widener turf course and drew a field of 11 older males.

Pletcher sends out Unitarian, the 3-1 morning-line favorite, and Red Rifle, the second choice at 7-2. Unitarian won the two-mile H. Allen Jerkens Stakes on the turf at Gulfstream Park in January. Red Rifle, who is also accomplished in distance races, is a stakes winner on both dirt and grass.

Robert S. Evans' Unitarian drew post 3 and will be ridden by Javier Castellano. Red Rifle, who is owned by Twin Creeks Racing Stables LLC and will be ridden by Velazquez, exits post 5. 

Pletcher and Velazquez joined forces to win the inaugural running of the Belmont Gold Cup Invitational with Charming Kitten in 2014.

"The main ingredient [to a two-mile race] is determining if a horse wants to go this far," Pletcher said. "With Unitarian, we've already done that, and Red Rifle has been effective at a mile and a half on the grass and a mile and a quarter on the dirt. It's kind of the same [approach] as last year with Charming Kitten -- I felt it might be something he could do."

Also entered are Artic North and Reflecting, who finished second and third, respectively, behind Unitarian in the H. Allen Jerkens Stakes. Dynamic Sky, Innovation Economy, Comes the Dream, Diplomat, Morning Calm, Manchurian High and Tattenham complete the field.


Source: NYRA