Hard Study looks to ace Saratoga's Birdstone for second straight year

Hard Study will look to repeat as winner in Thursday's eighth running of the $100,000 Birdstone Stakes for 3-year-olds and up at Saratoga Race Course.

Owned by Paul Pompa, Jr., the ultra-consistent Hard Study is 7-3-2 in 13 career starts and has finished on the board in 12 straight since running ninth in his debut in February 2016. The Todd Pletcher trainee will go up against a five-horse field looking repeat his winning effort in last year's edition when he stalked early before winning the 1 3/4-mile route by 2 ½ lengths over Scuba.

The 5-year-old son of Big Brown returns from a third-place effort in his graded stakes debut, finishing behind War Story and the winner Hoppertunity in the Grade 2 Brooklyn on Belmont Stakes Day, June 9, at Belmont Park. He has two wins, two runner-up finishes and a third-place effort in four starts at distances greater than 1 1/16 miles.

"I think he's just finding his specialty, which appears to be these longer races," Pletcher said. "He has the right disposition for it. He's a great galloper. He doesn't get too aggressive or pull too hard. He's the defending champ. We'll try him again."

Hall of Famer John Velazquez, who was aboard for last year's Birdstone win, will have the return call from the rail.

His stablemate, You're to Blame, is coming off a third-place finish in the State Dinner on July 6 at Belmont. The son of Distorted Humor will be stretching out in distance as he seeks his first stakes win, drawing post 3 with fellow Hall of Famer Javier Castellano.

Carlino will be looking to bounce back from a fifth-place finish in the Brooklyn. The Mark Hennig trainee got caught wide on Belmont's Big Sandy but will be returning to Saratoga for the first time since running second in an allowance race on July 21 at Saratoga. Jose Lezcano will ride from post 2.

Trainer Ian Wilkes will saddle a pair of entrants looking for their first respective stakes wins with Big Dollar Bill and Archanova, respectively. 

Big Dollar Bill, a 4-year-old Midnight Lute gelding, will be looking for his first win since April 19 at Keeneland. Chris Landeros will have his second Saratoga mount of the meet and first since the Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt, exiting from post 5.

Archanova, winner of an optional claimer at Tampa Bay Downs on April 6 before running seventh in an optional claimer on June 23 at Churchill Downs, will break from post 4 in tandem with Manny Franco.