INDEPENDENCE Day weekend didn’t have any Grade 1 action stateside last weekend but it had many some star names in action ahead of bigger clashes over the next months.
At Belmont Park, there was a surprise in the feature race, the Grade 2 Suburban which was expected to be a rematch of the 2020 Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes between Happy Saver and Mystic Guide.
Wertheimer et Frere’s Happy Saver brought a five-for-five record into the Suburban and Godolphin’s Mystic Guide was having his first start since winning the Dubai World Cup in March.
Over a sloppy track, Mystic Guide gained a narrow lead at the top of the stretch, but was unable to hold a determined bid by Max Player, who went a nose in front at the half-furlong pole and battled on well to post victory by a neck, in a time of 2m 1.95secs for the 10 furlongs.
Max Player earned entry to the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar for his 700 owners, part of SportBLX Thoroughbreds which sells microshares in the colt.
Jockey Ricardo Santana Jr said: “He always tries hard. Today, he broke well and put me right there. I took the spot and no one wanted to go. As soon as he felt Mystic Guide inside, he kept on fighting until the end.”
“He’s kind of a funny horse,” Steve Asmussen’s assistant trainer Toby Sheets said of the winner, a son of Honor Code. “He always has more, but sometimes he doesn’t give it. He had a clear trip today and that helped so much.”
Third last year in the Belmont Stakes and the Travers Stakes, he was unplaced in subsequent starts in the Saudi Cup and Pimlico Special Match Series Stakes.
Mystic Guide connections were not disappointed by their colt’s performance on the sloppy, sealed racetrack.
Tired
“Three months away and he comes back on a very difficult racetrack. He was tired through the lane. It’s not that surprising that a horse coming off three months might get tired off this kind of a racetrack.
“We’re going onward and rolling toward the Breeders’ Cup,” trainer Michael Stidham said.
On Sunday, Mind Control and Firenze Fire duelled through the seven furlongs before Mind Control edged the odds-on favourite in the final furlong, prevailing by a head to win the Grade 2 John A. Nerud Stakes at Belmont Park.
Mind Control, under John Velazquez, challenged Firenze Fire (Irad Ortiz), who continued to press the pace near the rail out of the turn. Mind Control kept up the fight and the five-year-old son of Stay Thirsty gained a narrow lead, hitting the wire in 1m 21.94sec.
Mind Control was having his first outing since being transferred from Gregg Sacco to Todd Pletcher.
“It was a very good effort,” Pletcher said. “He came to us in very good condition and we’ve been pointing to this race since his arrival. I knew when he got his head in front, he’s a fighter.”
Return to form for Ce Ce
CE Ce was the only Grade 1 winner in an eight-horse field for the Grade 2 $350,000 Princess Rooney Invitational Stakes at Gulfstream Park, and the daughter of Elusive Quality, returned to the form that saw her win the 2020 Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap, adding to her win in the 2020 Grade 1 Beholder Mile Stakes at Santa Anita for Michael McCarthy.
“She’s pretty impressive,” jockey Victor Espinoza said. “She loves this track, it’s a little different than what she’s been running at.”
KNICKS Go was by far the best horse running on last Friday’s Festival of Racing night card at Prairie Meadows, and he predictably made short work of his rivals. Korea Racing Authority’s five-year-old son of Paynter won the $300,000 Grade 3 Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap by 10 and a quarter lengths.
It was the first win for the Brad Cox-trained horse since his Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational victory at Gulfstream Park in January, which followed his 2020 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile win at Keeneland.
The grey ran fourth in the Grade 1 Saudi Cup and returned to the US to run fourth in the June 5th Metropolitan Handicap.
The Grade 1 Whitney at Saratoga is his likely next outing.
Bob Baffert’s top filly Gamine also had little more than a good workout on Monday when she won the Grade 2 Great Lady M Stakes at Los Alamitos by 10 lengths.