Red Smith Stakes 2021: Odds, pace projection, preview, more

Chad Brown aims Saturday to keep himself atop the 2021 trainers’ list for graded stakes wins.

Brown’s Serve the King (3-1) heads a field of 10 runners lined up for the Grade 2, $200,000 Red Smith Stakes. Post time from Aqueduct is scheduled for 3:43 p.m., with FS2 to air the 1 3/8-mile turf stakes.

Click here for Aqueduct entries and results.

The New York-based Brown captured the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer each year from 2016-19. He is competing for that title again this year with 30 graded stakes wins, tied alongside Todd Pletcher for most among North American trainers.

Brown has amassed 24 of those 30 victories in turf events. Highlights on the lawn include Domestic Spending’s victories in the Turf Classic Stakes (G1) and Manhattan Stakes (G1), Tribhuvan’s United Nations Stakes (G1) win, and Rockemperor’s breakthrough in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic (G1).

Serve the King has been knocking on the door of a graded stakes score. He followed his stablemate Rockemperor home Oct. 9 at Belmont Park in the Joe Hirsch, crossing second at 15-1 odds to complete a Brown exacta.

Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. retains the mount Saturday on Serve the King, who preceded his Joe Hirsch effort with a win in Saratoga’s John’s Call Stakes. Peter Brant, one of Brown’s top owners, campaigns the 5-year-old son of Kingman.

Brown’s other Red Smith starter is Value Engineering (8-1), a last-out Belmont allowance winner making his stakes bow.

Trainer Jack Sisterson enters Channel Cat (4-1), who won Belmont’s Man o’ War Stakes (G1) back in May. He has been off the board in three starts since.

Christophe Clement, two weeks after earning his first Breeders’ Cup training win, has Soldier Rising (5-1) ready for the Red Smith. He was second against fellow sophomores in both the Saratoga Derby Invitational Stakes (G1) and Jockey Club Derby Invitational Stakes and battles older rivals here.

Related: Flatter Pod: Sisterson on Channel Cat |
Odds and analysis: See the 10 horses in the 2021 Red Smith

Here is a look at the field for the 2021 Red Smith Stakes (trainer and jockey in parentheses) with morning-line odds:

1. Tide of the Sea (Mike Maker, Luis Saez), 15-1

2. Value Engineering (Chad Brown, Dylan Davis), 8-1

3. Soldier Rising (Christophe Clement, Jose Ortiz), 5-1

4. Serve the King (Chad Brown, Irad Ortiz Jr.), 3-1

5. Shamrocket (Todd Pletcher, Javier Castellano), 6-1

6. Corelli (Jonathan Thomas, Manny Franco), 12-1

7. Channel Cat (Jack Sisterson, John Velazquez), 4-1

8. Sanctuary City (James Ferraro, Ruben Silvera), 20-1

9. No Word (Todd Pletcher, Jose Lezcano), 8-1

10. Price Talk (Anthony Dutrow, Eric Cancel), 8-1

TimeformUS’ pace projections show Channel Cat going out to a lead Saturday under jockey John Velazquez, followed by Tide of the Sea. Favorite Serve the King is projected to settle mid-pack through the early stages.

Other Saturday stakes

Here is a look at a few other races taking place Saturday on a light stakes weekend in the U.S. All post times are EDT.

Related: Saturday plays: Chilukki and undercard, plus Native Diver

5:09 p.m. – $100,000 Jean Lafitte Stakes, 2-year-olds, one mile, Delta Downs

Kaely’s Brother (9-5) makes his stakes debut off a second-out graduation Oct. 9 at Keeneland for trainer Brad Cox. Jockey Timothy Thornton rides the Twirling Candy colt who, with a strong run Saturday, would seem a likely candidate for Fair Grounds’ 2022 Kentucky Derby prep series. Brett Brinkman trains Dancin With Angels (4-1), whose 2-for-2 record includes an allowance win at Delta Downs. Simply Wicked (9-2) has competed in three stakes events for trainer Robertino Diodoro and seeks a first added-money win.

5:36 p.m. – $300,000 Chilukki Stakes (G3), 3-and-up fillies and mares, one mile, Churchill Downs, FS2

Obligatory (5-2), winner of Churchill Downs’ Eight Belles Stakes (G2) on April 30, looks for another graded stakes score under the Twin Spires. Bill Mott trains the 3-year-old Curlin filly, who was sixth last out at Keeneland in the Raven Run Stakes (G2) and will have jockey Joel Rosario in the irons Saturday. Cox trains Matera (3-1), an Ellis Park and Indiana Grand stakes winner who was fourth at Churchill in the Locust Grove Stakes (G3). Miss Bigly (3-1) ships to Kentucky for trainer Phil D’Amato after running third at Santa Anita in the Zenyatta Stakes (G2).

Related: Taking a Stand: Obligatory vulnerable in Chilukki

7 p.m. – $100,000 Native Diver Stakes (G3), 3-and-up, 1 1/8 miles, Churchill Downs, TVG

Eight Rings (7-2), fourth Nov. 6 in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, wheels back two weeks later to go an extra furlong over the same Del Mar oval. Bob Baffert trains the 4-year-old Empire Maker colt, a Grade 1 winner who will have jockey Juan Hernandez up. Baffert also trains Azul Coast (4-1), looking to bounce back from a seventh-place finish in Santa Anita’s Awesome Again Stakes (G1). Midcourt (4-1) won the 2019 Native Diver for trainer John Shirreffs but was eighth in the Awesome Again.

Related: Analysis: Picking best Baffert entry in the Native Diver

Red Smith preview

From the New York Racing Association Press Office:

Calumet Farm’s Channel Cat headlines a deep field assembled for Saturday’s 61st running of the Grade 2, $200,000 Red Smith Handicap going 1 3/8 miles for 3-year-olds and upward over the inner turf at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Channel Cat, a 6-year-old son of late turf champion English Channel, seeks his first triumph since capturing the Man o’ War (G1) in May at Belmont Park for trainer Jack Sisterson.

The chestnut fended off a confrontation from dual Grade 1 winner Gufo in late stretch to win the 11-furlong Man o’ War by a nose in his third start of this season. He arrives off a distant sixth in the Kentucky Turf Cup (G2) on Sept. 11 at Kentucky Downs, where he was forwardly placed but finished 9¾ lengths back of the winner Imperador.

As the lone millionaire in the Red Smith, Channel Cat boasts earnings of more than $1.4 million through a ledger of 29: 6-3-5. He captured the Bowling Green (G2) in July 2019 in wire-to-wire fashion while racing for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher.

Channel Cat will see an equipment change for Saturday’s engagement and will sport blinkers for the first time since May 2019 when finishing fourth in the Fort Marcy (G3) at Belmont.

“He lacked that little bit of spark in his past couple of starts and the addition of blinkers will help him do that,” Sisterson said. “In the race at Kentucky Downs, he didn’t make the lead and didn’t really finish up. I felt that there was something missing the last two races and I think blinkers will help.”

Hall of Famer John Velazquez will seek his fourth Red Smith triumph when piloting Channel Cat, who will carry 126 pounds from post 7.

Trainer Chad Brown will saddle a pair of contenders in Serve the King (post 4, Irad Ortiz, Jr., 124) and Value Engineering (post 2, Dylan Davis, 122).

Owned by Peter Brant, who captured the 1979 Red Smith with Waya, Serve the King enters off a sharp runner-up effort when completing a Brown-trained exacta in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational (G1) on Oct. 9 at Belmont. The 5-year-old Kingman bay garnered a career-best 100 Beyer Speed Figure for the effort, where he saved ground in fourth and made a move in between horses in mid-stretch to finish two lengths to stablemate Rockemperor.

Serve the King sports a consistent leger of 10: 4-2-1 which includes a victory in the restricted John’s Call on Aug. 25 at Saratoga and a troubled fourth in the United Nations (G1) on July 17 at Monmouth Park.

“The horse is training really well. It looks like a really solid race,” Brown said. “He’s coming off his best performance. He’s one that keeps developing and one that we thought a lot of. He’s well bred, very consistent and he’s in good form right now.”

Also representing the Brown stable is Value Engineering, a consistent 5-year-old son of Lemon Drop Kid who makes his stakes debut for Seth Klarman’s Klaravich Stable.

The three-time winner has never finished off the board in 11 career starts and arrives off a rallying victory going nine furlongs four weeks ago over the Belmont inner turf. His other two victories include a third-out maiden triumph in August 2019 covering 1 3/16 miles at Saratoga and a 10-furlong score against winners off a nine-month layoff in June 2020 at Belmont.

“It’s a big step but we always thought he was a stakes horse all along,” Brown said. “He lost his way a little bit and needed to breakthrough. I thought his last race was a breakout performance. He’s got to step up but there aren’t too many options for a horse like him this time of year, so we’re giving it a shot.”

Pletcher will seek his third Red Smith coup when saddling Donegal Racing’s Shamrocket, who added a stakes win to his resume last out in the Point of Entry on Oct. 24 at Belmont going 12 furlongs.

The 4-year-old Tonalist bay rounded out the trifecta in the July 5 Grand Couturier at Belmont ahead of a late-closing third in the Bowling Green on July 31 at Saratoga.

“I thought he got the trip we were looking for last time, it was nice to see him get that stake win,” Pletcher said. “I think the cutback is fine. He’s had some success going three turns and seems to run well no matter what you throw at him.”

Shamrocket will leave from post 5 carrying 124 pounds. under Javier Castellano.

Wertheimer and Frere homebred No Word, also for the Pletcher barn, was a last out fifth in the Knickerbocker (G3) on Oct. 10 at Belmont. The 4-year-old Silent Name colt has earned graded stakes placings three times, including a runner-up effort in last year’s Belmont Derby Invitational (G1).

Carrying 122 pounds, No Word will be piloted by Jose Lezcano post 9.

Michael Dubb, Madaket Stables, Morris Bailey, Wonder Stables and Michael J. Caruso’s Solider Rising will face elders for the first time while attempting to become the first 3-year-old to win the Red Smith since Monarch’s Maze in 1999. The son of Frankel strives to make amends after cutting back to nine furlongs and finishing fifth as the beaten favorite in the Hill Prince (G2) on Oct. 23 at Belmont.

Soldier Rising was second in both the Saratoga Derby Invitational (G1) on Aug. 7 and the Jockey Club Derby Invitational six weeks later at Belmont for trainer Christophe Clement.

“I think he’s good enough to make the jump,” said Clement, who saddled previous Red Smith winners Flag Down (1995) and Grassy (2010). “I thought he ran well last time, but we asked of him an impossible task being so far back.”

Solider Rising, who will carry 118 pounds, is owned by Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb, Morris Bailey, Wonder Stables and Michael J. Caruso. Jose Ortiz will ride from post 3.

Completing the field are Tide of the Sea (post 1, Luis Saez, 126), Corelli (post 6, Manny Franco, 126), Sanctuary City (post 8, Ruben Silvera, 122) and Price Talk (post 10, Eric Cancel, 122).

Known as the Edgemere Handicap until 1981, the Red Smith pays tribute to the late Pulitzer Prize winning author and sportswriter Walter Wellesley “Red” Smith, whose 55-year career in journalism covered a wide array of sports, including horse racing, for the New York Herald Tribune and the New York Times. The Red Smith will be carded as Race 9 on Saturday’s 10-race program. First post is 11:50 a.m. EST.