While the focus of the racing world on May 7 will be Churchill Downs in Kentucky, New York, racing fans will be served a three-socket appetizer graded at Belmont Parktwo of them on the pitch.
With loads of bet action in Kentucky, $200,000 Fort Marcy Stakes (G2T) and $200,000 Sheepshead Bay Stakes (G2T) for fillers and mares attracted relatively small fields of 8 and 5 respectively. , with coach Chad Brown being strong in both.
Fort Marcy, 1 1/8 mile away on inner turf for kids 4 and up, features a Brown trio, led by a level 1 winning team Rockempang who will be joined by stable friends Sacred life and L’Imperator .
Rockempang, a 6-year-old son of Holy Roman Emperor owned by Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb, Wonder Stables, Michael Kisber and Michael Caruso, won their breakout win last fall in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Stakes (G1T) in Belmont, giving him a ride home. west to Del Mar for the Longines Breeders’ Cup Grass (G1T).
After finishing eighth on November 6 at the World Championships, he returned later that month at the Hollywood Turf Cup (G2T) and finished fifth after 1/2 the way.
Like last year, when he finished third in Fort Marcy, Saturday’s race will be the start of his year.
Sacred Life, owned by Dubb, Madaket, Wonder Stables and Caruso, has started twice this year. Grade 1 is placed Siyouni The puzzle placed fourth in the Muniz Memorial Classic Prize presented by the Horse Racing Nation (G2T) and sixth in the Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational Stakes presented by Baccarat (G1T).
L’Imperator, by the Holy Roman Emperor and owned by Madaket, Wonder Stables, and Robert LaPenta, will have a disappointing 10th place in the Tampa Bay Stakes (G3T).
Allen’s Stable . Main Rival Doswell , who won the Ft. Lauderdale Stakes (G2T) and then finished seventh in Pegasus Turf, and Reeves Thoroughbred Racing and Peter and Patty Searles’ Man City a New York hybrid of Mucho Macho Man win in Dangerous Hour Bets at Aqueduct race track for coach Christophe Clement.
“I think nine feathers is good. It’s not out of his reach,” coach Barclay Tagg said of Doswell, his son. Giant high riser . “It’s been a while since we ran him, so we’ll see what happens.”
Virginia Joy heads Sheepshead Bay
Brown only has one starter in Sheepshead Bay, but that might be more than enough.
The standout in this field is that of Peter Brant Virginia Joy who was last seen competing for The Very One Stales (G3T) for Brown at Gulfstream Park the same length at the same 1/8 mile distance as Saturday’s race.
Favorite 4-5 in The Very One, 5 year old kid Empty soldier The mare registered her first bet win in that Florida race since moving to the United States and Brown’s stables last year. Group 1 is located in Germany, she has caught two of her four US starts.
Because of its five-horse racecourse, Sheepshead Bay will be contested as the third of 11 races on Saturday’s pass, starting at 12:20pm
