Friday, May 6, 2011
Contact: NYRA Press Office
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- Exciting weekend for Clement barn with Sal the Barber in
- Jerkens seeking Beaugay win No. 5
- Ward, Sanchez appear at
- Field taking shape for April 14 Peter Pan
ELMONT, N.Y. – Not only does trainer Christophe Clement have an entrant in Saturday’s Grade 3, $100,000 Fort Marcy in Sal the Barber, but on Sunday his multiple Eclipse award-winner Gio Ponti is scheduled for his first work since a fifth-place finish in the $10 million Dubai World Cup on March 26.
“Sal the Barber always tries very hard,” Clement said. “I don’t know if he’s good enough, but I know he’s going to be trying. Cornelio [Velasquez] is riding him and he’s the man of the moment, so that’s exciting.
“Gio Ponti will breeze for the first time since the World Cup on Sunday. I think we’ll bring him back for a race like the
The trainer added that Winchester, who denied stablemate Gio Ponti a repeat win in last year’s Woodford Reserve Manhattan Handicap and went on to take the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Belmont before finishing fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf, was temporarily sidelined.
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Hall of Fame trainer H. Allen Jerkens, who has won four editions of the Beaugay, will be trying for a fifth in tomorrow’s 1 1/16-mile turf race with Hal Snowden Jr.’s Bet On the Blue, beaten a head by Miss Blakely in her 2011 debut in the South Beach at Gulfstream Park.
“She ran well in that race, we’ll see what happens Saturday,” said Jerkens of the 4-year-old daughter of E Dubai, who was second to Aruna in the Pebbles last October in her lone appearance at
Overall, Bet On the Blue has won 11 of her 15 starts, for earnings of $201,640.
Jerkens, who turned 82 on April 21, won the eighth running of the Beaugay with Thirty Flags in 1984, took the 1987 edition with Give A Toast, saddled Summer Secretary to win in 1991 and saddled Caress to victory in 1995.
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Trainer Wesley Ward and jockey Jeffrey Sanchez, who combined to win three 2-year-old stakes at Chantilly Racecourse in
“It’s been great,” said Ward moments after sending out Sanchez to a runner-up effort aboard Gentlemans Code, the first of his two starters yesterday at Belmont. “The horses have been running well. That’s all you can ask for in this game.”
Ward, who in 2009 annexed two stakes at Royal Ascot in
“[Chantilly] is a beautiful, historic racetrack, just like
Sanchez, winner of the 2010 Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies aboard Awesome Feather, has been more than willing to travel across North America and now throughout the world to ride horses for Ward, having recently competed at Gulfstream Park, Keeneland, Chantilly, and now Belmont for the trainer.
“[Sanchez] is a fantastic talent and I think he has a world of talent,” said Ward. “He really isn’t a ‘name’ jockey as of yet. He can travel around and isn’t committed to anybody. Until he gets that name and I have to fight for him, he’s a guy who can go to
Ward, who has been allocated stalls at Aqueduct Racetrack, said he will have a “nice string” of horses in New York and will continue to be active during the 2011 Belmont spring/summer meet.
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While next Saturday marks a break in the Triple Crown between the Derby and the Preakness, talented 3-year-olds will be on display at Belmont Park in the Grade 2, $200,000 Peter Pan, run at 1 1/8-miles on the main track.
Expected to head the field is Grade 2 Jerome winner Adios Charlie, making just his fourth start for trainer and co-owner Stan Hough, who campaigns the colt in partnership with Robert Sahn. Also probable, according to NYRA Stakes Coordinator Andrew Byrnes, are Beer Meister, fifth in the Grade 3 Sunland Derby; Bold Deed and Tap Attack, one-two finishers in the Packett’s Landing overnight stakes at Aqueduct on April 10; Grade 3 Illinois Derby winner Joe Vann; Monzon, winner of Aqueduct’s Count Fleet Stakes on New Year’s Day and subsequently fifth in the Sam F. Davis at Tampa Bay Downs; and Uncle Brent, winner of Oaklawn’s Northern Spur Stakes on April 16.
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