Solitary Ranger Headlines Arlington Classic

Moulton’s Solitary Ranger and Tom Fedro Sr. and Team Block’s Afortable top a well-matched field of eight entered for Saturday’s Grade III $150,000 Arlington Classic at a mile and a sixteenth on the turf.  

The Arlington Classic is the first leg of the Mid-America Triple that continues with the $200,000 Grade III American Derby on July 12 and concludes with the Grade I $500,000 Secretariat Stakes on Arlington Million Day, Aug. 16.  The Classic is also part of Saturday’s stakes tripleheader that also includes the Grade III $150,000 Hanshin Cup at a mile on the main track and the Grade III $150,000 Arlington Matron for fillies and mares at a mile and an eighth on Polytrack.

Trained by Wayne Catalano, Solitary Ranger won the Grade III Arlington-Washington Futurity at a mile over Polytrack here last September.  Earlier this year, the son of U S Ranger won the $100,000 John Battaglia Memorial at Turfway Park, also over Polytrack.  Solitary Ranger has made but one start on the turf, winning a first-level allowance at the Fair Grounds in January.  Channing Hill picks up the mount Saturday.

The lightly raced Afortable is two-for-three in his brief career with both victories coming over turf.  The Chris Block-trained son of Illinois champion Fort Prado broke his maiden here last September going a mile and last time out rallied to capture a first-level allowance at Keeneland on April 24.  Julien Leaproux will be in from Kentucky to ride Afortable on Saturday.

Wachtel Stable and George Kerr’s Long On Value comes in off a fourth-place finish in the Grade II American Turf at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby Day.  Trained by Bill Mott, the son of Value Plus is three for eight with two of those victories coming in minor stakes competition last summer.  In two other starts as a sophomore, Long On Value ran third in the $100,000 Fred Caposela at Aqueduct in March and fourth in the Grade III Hutcheson Stakes at Gulfstream Park.  Brian Hernandez Jr. will ride.

Lothenbach Stables’ Ry’s the Man has won twice in 2014 with both victories coming over the Fair Grounds turf course where he broke his maiden in January and captured a first-level allowance in March.  Last out, the Neil Pessin-trained son of Officer finished second in a Keeneland turf allowance race.  Leading rider Florent Geroux has the call.

Completing the field for the Arlington Classic (with jockeys named) are: Suzanne Stables’ Chief Barker (Sheldon Russell); Bourbon Lane Stable and Michael McMahon’s Tiger Bourbon (Leandro Goncalves); Magdalena Racing’s Rankhasprivileges (C. H. Marquez Jr.); and Ike and Dawn Trash and Janet and Sam Alley’s filly Istanford (James Graham).