(photo credit: Mathea Kelley - Book'em Danno and Bentornato go 1-2 in the True North at Saratoga)
The Belmont Stakes Racing Festival completed its five days of 25 stakes races on Sunday, June 7 at Saratoga Racecourse in Saratoga Springs, New York, highlighted by a series of top-notch performances, especially by those who have GCC form.
Boama Corporation’s Group 1 Saudi Cup runner-up Nysos made his first start since chasing Forever Young home in Riyadh an impressive one in the Grade 1, $1 million Met Mile, besting Godolphin’s well-regarded Knightsbridge and classic winner Journalism in emphatic fashion, coming home four lengths easily the best. The Bob Baffert pupil now points toward the G1, $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Halloween, October 31—which is appropriate, because this performance was scary-good. Flavien Prat was aboard for the win, which was his eighth from 10 starts, boosting his career bankroll to more than $5.2 million.
“I’m just so happy for the owners,” Baffert said. “He’s a very good horse and they let me take my time and get him ready. I’m just happy that he ran his race. I told Prat you’re going to have to quarter-horse him away from there—and he did. He knows the horse really well; rode him with a lot of confidence.
“I almost brought him up here last year, but didn’t do it. We had this targeted (this year). It takes a little bit of the sting out of the Saudi Cup,” Baffert continued. “What a talent. I always thought he was one of the best older horses in training and today he showed it. Actually, I was talking to a numbers guy, and I said, ‘how can you not like my horse - this is one of the best horses I’ve ever trained,’ and he said, ‘well, he just doesn’t fit.’ Well I think he fits now.
“He’s one of the smartest horses I’ve ever trained. He’s really quiet and cool. The second time I ran him, he was so quiet it worried me. When he walks into the gate, you could put a kid on his back. He’s just so chill, that you don’t know [how good he is]. When Prat rode him, he thought the same thing. The minute you turn him to see the gate; he just blows up."
A run in the Grade 1, $1 million Pacific Classic as a Breeders’ Cup prep is likely next in late summer for the talented entire, who will head to stud at Coolmore America in 2027. Baffert believes his disposition will allow the speedy colt to stretch to 2000m of both races.
“You can shut him down and pick him back up again,” Baffert explained. “I always thought he could go that far. When he got beat in Saudi, he was running through the wire, and I think the post cost him.”
A couple races earlier in the card, G1 Al Quoz Sprint fourth Reef Runner—winner of The Saudi Cup meeting’s G2 1351 Turf Sprint—landed his first top-level tally in the G1 Jaipur over 1100m, wearing down defending champ and fan favourite Ag Bullet in the process. Ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr, with whom he reunited for the first time since Riyadh, he won with plenty in reserve, tucking in behind the pace, tipping out three-wide and inhaling his rivals in stready, confident fashion. The Jaipur is one of only two G1 races for turf sprinters in America and gives the winner an automatic berth into the other, the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.
“That was great,” Ortiz Jr said. “When he broke sharp, I was really happy with that. He put me in a really good position. He always kicks at the end. He did it on his own. I never hit him. I was full of horse. I just showed the stick at him and he just did the rest. He’s a really nice horse, very consistent and straightforward. Five-and-a-half [furlongs] sometimes doesn’t always go his way, but the way he’s been doing lately, he’s amazing. He’s a strong sprinter. I worked hard to get the win at Saudi, but today I was a little more confident because I knew he would give me that kick, which he did really nicely. I never really squeezed him. He was beautiful. It was a beautiful ride. Definitely a Breeders’ Cup horse.”
Trainer David Fawkes was in awe of his stable star, who did not enjoy the cut in the ground on Dubai World Cup day and thus requires fast ground he relished in New York.
“What do you say but, ‘Wow,” he exclaimed. “He’s just a really neat horse. Anything you ask him to do, he does. I was happy with him coming in. He was a little nervous in the paddock, which I figured might have been first time back in the States jitters, but I wasn’t too worried. Irad said that when he broke, the race was over. He was on the bridle and ready to roll. We’re going to point to the Breeders’ Cup and hope for good weather, like this. We got so lucky. I’ve been sweating all week. I was watching the radar. It was spitting a little bit earlier, which was fine. I just didn’t want it to be like Dubai.”
Earlier in the card, two more horses with Saudi form strutted their stuff in perhaps the saltiest-ever renewal of the Grade 3, $400,000 True North. Reigning USA champion sprinter Book’em Danno and 2025 G1 Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner and G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen-placed Bentornato—second and third behind Forever Young in the 2024 G3 Saudi Derby—finished one-two in a 1300m thriller that blitzed the dirt in 1:14.79, including a six-furlong (1200m) split in 1:07.95. The pair, who finished in a three-way photo with Antonio Fresu-piloted Listenupshance, is likely to renew their rivalry in the fall in Keeneland’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint, if not sooner.
Paco Lopez was aboard the winner for trainer Derek Ryan and owner Atlantic Six Racing.
“He's been training unbelievable,” Ryan said. “He got beat the first time (this season) because I ran him one work short. It was a mishap, about a month before, a jockey didn't show up, I had a different jockey work him and it wasn't even worth working, but I wasn't cranking him for it. Paco executed the way I wanted. Maybe we put this to bed now, I'm tired of hearing of (the rivalry with) Bentornato. We'll look to the (G1 Forego on August 29).”
Jose D’Angelo, albeit naturally disappointed not to win, was pleased with the effort of his second-placed stable star.
“He ran big,” he said. “He had a long trip from Dubai and we know that his best distance is six furlongs, and we went today and six-and-a-half. He ran his race. Strong fractions, I’m very proud of him. He broke better than Dubai. When I saw the fractions, I thought at the end it was going to be a close race and it was. I’m very proud of him. I would like to see how he comes back and keep him at six furlongs. The ultimate goal is the Breeders’ Cup, again, so that’s the plan for the moment.”
Three-time stakes winner Obliteration, a good second in the G3 Saudi Derby in February, finished third in the G1 Woody Stephens behind the otherworldly performance of Cherie DeVaux-trained Englishman and talented runner-up Crude Velocity.
Some GCC-owned runners to get on well during the meeting include Wathnan’s Brad Cox-trained Commandment, who was a valiant second in the featured G1, $2 million Belmont Stakes. Juddmonte’s Chad Brown-trained Segesta was a third as the favourite the G1, $500,000 Just a Game, while Godolphin’s Eoin Harty-trained Hen Party was a late-running second in the G3, $200,000 Soaring Softly.
This week’s GCC-owned minor USA race winners who are definitely worth keeping tabs on include Juddmonte’s Brown-trained 3-year-old filly Directive, a half-sister to Segesta by Gun Runner, who won a Saratoga allowance over 1800m and now heads to G1 company in July’s CCA Oaks. Lastly, Wathnan unleashed a possible future star on Sunday when Cox-conditioned Leading Change dismantled a 1400m maiden at Churchill Downs. By Gun Runner, he is a half to G1 Kentucky Oaks winner Shedaresthedevil and is surely headed to stakes company next, especially considering he is usually Commandment’s workmate.
