Weekend Watch: Charles Town Classic leads stakes lineup
Each weekend, Horse Racing Nation previews the top races to tune into coast to coast and runs down the main contenders. All times are Eastern, with these the stakes of note on Saturday…
Aqueduct, Race 6, 4:09 p.m.
Forty Under, the 2018 Pilgrim Stakes (G3) winner who finished sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, makes his 3-year-old debut in the $100,000 Woodhaven Stakes. The 9-5 favorite’s main competition is the Todd Pletcher-trained duo of Empire of War and Clint Maroon. Additionally, Five Star General is also a familiar Derby trail name switching to turf.
Woodbine, Race 8, 4:51 p.m.
Racing gets back underway this week in Ontario, where the Whimsical Stakes features Saturday on the synthetic. The Top 3 in a field of six look evenly matched: Previous Woodbine stakes winner Sly Beauty goes second off the layoff; Shakopee Town has missed the board once in 10 starts; and Magic Spell won her last, an Oct. 7 allowance, at the course/distance.
Keeneland, Race 9, 5:30 p.m.
Zulu Alpha, 2-for-2 in 2019, is the one to beat in the Elkhorn (G2). While assigned the outside post position in a field of 10, he has 1 1/2 miles to make up for it. Some of the usual turf marathoners are also signed on, including the Mike Maker-trained Bigger Picture and Soglio, the next choices on the morning line behind 8-5 Zulu Alpha, who now also runs for Maker.
Charles Town, Race 11, 5:37 p.m.
The $1 million Charles Town Classic (G2) attracted a full field of 10 to the West Virginia bullring, where the 1-2 finishers of last year’s race, Something Awesome and War Story, will take on Diamond King, the 4-year-old who appeared in last year’s Preakness and won off the bench. Note as well that stakes winner Nanoosh has transferred to Jorge Navarro’s barn for this one.
Laurel Park, Race 10, 5:42 p.m.
The Federico Tesio Stakes, a “Win and You’re In” event for the Preakness Stakes, runs through Alwaysmining. Connections considered the Derby trail for their star Maryland-bred but elected to keep with the plan of running the gamut of Laurel Park’s 3-year-old stakes, then thinking Triple Crown. The Kelly Rubley-trained son of Stay Thirsty has won five straight.
Aqueduct, Race 9, 5:48 p.m.
Bankit, last seen in the Louisiana Derby (G2), drops back into state-bred company as part of the New York Stallion Series. Last fall, he won Belmont Park’s Sleepy Hollow on this circuit before an inspired, late-running second in the Springboard Mile at Remington Park. But the son of Central Banker missed the board in all three of his starts to open 2019.
Gulfstream Park, Race 11, 6:04 p.m.
Wouldn’t normally make mention of a $75,000 stakes such as the Roar, but again?! The Hutcheson (G3) winner Gladiator King is entered for his seventh start of the season and first since that breakthrough victory sprinting. But since March 23, note he traveled to Keeneland and scratched at the gate of the Transylvania (G3) on opening weekend.
Santa Anita Park, Race 5, 6:12 p.m.
The West Coast weekend feature gathered five well-known sprinters…or, well, what is Dr. Dorr anyway? The Kona Gold (G2) favorite breaks from the rail and has run at all distances. If he’s vulnerable, perhaps Bob Baffert stablemate Zatter is improving at the right time, while All Out Blitz has won two of his last three. Cistron and Kanthaka round out the field.