Saratoga 2024: Neat will step up for Hall of Fame Stakes

Dual Grade 3 winner Neat looks to take it up a notch in Friday’s Grade 2, $500,000 National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame Stakes, a one-mile, inner-turf test for 3-year-olds at Saratoga.

The Hall of Fame is the ninth of 10 races Friday, and it is scheduled to go at 5:45 p.m. EDT.

Owned by Red White and Blue Racing and trained by Rob Atras, the Constitution chestnut enters from a three-quarter-length stalking score over Grade 3-winner Deterministic in the one-mile Manila (G3) on June 29 at Belmont at the Big A. Neat notched his second win at the level after capturing the 1 1/16-mile Transylvania (G3) in April over good Keeneland turf.

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In the Transylvania, Neat prevailed after he was keen early and had to be taken back by jockey Reylu Gutiérrez. He exited to an off-the-board finish in the 1 1/16-mile American Turf (G2) on good Churchill Downs green before rebounding in the Manila under returning rider Júnior Alvarado.

“He’s developed mentally and physically. Since he’s been in training early last summer, he’s just gone from a boy to a man,” Atras said. “He’s gotten bigger and stronger, and his last race at Aqueduct was a much more professional effort.”

Neat has stayed at Belmont Park since his last-out victory, completing weekly half-mile breezes over the dirt training track, including in 49.47 seconds last Sunday.

“He came out of the race really good, and we’re happy with his training,” Atras said. “His energy level is good, his weight is good, just his whole demeanor altogether. Sometimes we’ve had to ship him around, but down in Belmont, it's a short ship up to Saratoga.”

In another venture outside the Empire State, Neat made a winning seasonal debut in the Texas Turf Mile over yielding footing in January at Sam Houston.

Bred in Kentucky by Hidden Brook Farm and Spruce Lane Farm, Neat was a $200,000 purchase at a Keeneland September yearling sale and is out of the unraced More Than Ready mare Orabella, who also produced dual graded-stakes-placed Louder Than Bombs.

Alvarado will look to engineer another winning trip, this time from post 4.

Qatar Racing’s Army Officer in post 8 with Frankie Dettori returns to the site of a last-out, optional-claiming score at the distance June 7 during the Belmont Stakes racing festival. Trained by dual Eclipse Award winner Brad Cox, the Not This Time dark bay has hit the board in all five sophomore efforts, including a fourth-out graduation going one mile in March on the Turfway Park synthetic.

In his last-out victory Army Officer bested a 12-horse field that featured multiple graded-stakes-placed Spirit Prince along with Hunt Ball and Pirate, half-brothers to 2023 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile one-two finishers Cody’s Wish and National Treasure.

“He ran well here against I thought a solid group Belmont week,” Cox said. “He’s been here since training on the turf, and with what he’s been able to do as a 3-year-old, I think it is time to give him an opportunity at the stake level.”

Army Officer, out of the Uncle Mo mare Worth a Chance Mo, was a $475,000 purchase at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga select yearling sale.

Trainer Cherie DeVaux will saddle Zverev, in post 3 with José Ortiz, for his graded-stakes debut for owners Belladonna Racing, Peachtree Stable, Twin Brook Stables and West Point Thoroughbreds. The Oscar Performance bay added blinkers for his 3-year-old season, most recently capturing a 1 1/16-mile allowance June 20 at Churchill and earning a career-best 87 Beyer Speed Figure, according to Daily Racing Form.

“I think he’s in good form. The horse is pretty immature,” DeVaux said. “He seems to be growing out of some of that. He wears blinkers, which I definitely think are a factor.”

Zverev worked a bullet half-mile in 48.22 seconds last Sunday over the Oklahoma dirt training track at Saratoga. He was the fastest of 27 workers at the distance. He covered the same course in 50.22 seconds Saturday.

Zverev, a $330,000 purchase at the OBS spring sale of 2-year-olds in training, is out of the multiple Grade 1-winning Thunder Gulch mare Balance. His second dam Vertigineux produced Hall of Famer Zenyatta.

Three Diamonds Farms’ graded-stakes-placed filly Buttercream Babe, in post 2 with Irad Ortiz Jr., will try to beat the boys for trainer Mike Maker. The Twirling Candy bay has made her last two efforts at the distance against females, including a local optional-claiming triumph June 8 ahead of a rallying second in the Horseshoe Indianapolis Handicap on July 13.

Last year Buttercream Babe was a close second in the Surfer Girl (G3) before an off-the-board result in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, both one-mile events in the fall at Santa Anita.

Out of stakes-placed Mr. Greeley mare Runway Ready, Buttercream Babe was a $180,000 purchase at the 2023 OBS spring sale of 2-year-olds in training.

Rounding out the field are dual graded-stakes-placed Lagynos in post 5 with Cristian Torres riding for Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, stakes-winner Please Advise in post 1 with Flavien Prat and running as a first-time gelding for conditioner George Weaver, Florida-bred stakes winner Crystal Quest in post 6 with Javier Castellano on board for trainer Michael Trombetta and Will Walden-conditioned Barksdale making his turf debut in post 7 with Ramón Vázquez.