A Thread of Blue Cuts Back in Distance for Hill Prince

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A Thread of Blue Cuts Back in Distance for Hill Prince
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Photo: Coglianese Photos
A Thread of Blue

After pushing his preferred distance a bit to win the inaugural Saratoga Derby Invitational Stakes at 1 3/16 miles and compete in the 1 1/2-mile Jockey Club Derby Invitational Stakes this year, A Thread of Blue will turn back in distance for the $400,000 Hill Prince Stakes (G2T) at 1 1/8 miles Oct. 5 on the inner turf at Belmont Park.

The Hill Prince for 3-year-olds and the Belmont Turf Sprint Invitational Stakes are two of the five stakes scheduled for Saturday's card. 


After leading early but fading to fourth in his most recent start, the Jockey Club Derby on a main Belmont turf course rated good, A Thread of Blue should appreciate the firm turf, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said.

"It rained the day before the Jockey Club Derby. We were unlucky because he likes it firm," McLaughlin said of the son of Hard Spun . "Hopefully, it doesn't rain too much this week. He's doing very well."

McLaughlin said Leonard Green's A Thread of Blue should welcome the tighter turns of Belmont's inner turf.

"We're switching to the inner course, which I think is better," McLaughlin said. "The turn back is obviously to our advantage. He ran very well at a mile and a half, but a mile and an eighth is probably better. The outer course was a little bit loose last time, so all systems are go."

The Saratoga Derby was the second leg of the inaugural Turf Trinity for 3-year-olds, and Saturday's expected field of nine also includes the winner of the first race in that series. Henley's Joy captured the Belmont Derby Invitational Stakes (G1T) in July on the inner turf.

In the $150,000 Belmont Turf Sprint, graded stakes winner Hawkish returns to racing after taking the summer off following throat surgery.

A 4-year-old Artie Schiller gelding, Hawkish won last year's Penn Mile Stakes (G2T) at Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course. He'll be making his first start since winning this year's Cliff Hanger Stakes at one mile on the Monmouth Park turf.

Hawkish then required time off for throat surgery performed at New Bolton Center in Pennsylvania. Hawkish has put together a string of six strong works for conditioner Jimmy Toner, who said he opted for the Belmont Turf Sprint to get the gelding back on course for a fall campaign.

"Initially, I didn't think it was going to take as long as it did coming back from the surgery, but he's been doing really well," Toner said. "His last couple of breezes have been good. Unfortunately, we missed the bulk of the summer, but we wanted to get him started again here."

Making all seven of his starts at one mile or longer, Toner is concerned about cutting back to the six-furlong distance.

"Naturally, he's a miler, but he's a good horse and we needed a spot to come back in, so we're hoping to start him off successfully here," Toner said.


Entries: Hill Prince S. (G2T)

Belmont Park, Saturday, October 05, 2019, Race 8

  • Grade II
  • 1 1/8m
  • Inner turf
  • $400,000
  • 3 yo
  • 4:15 PM (local)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L
1 1Henley's Joy (KY) Dylan Davis 124 Michael J. Maker 8/1
2 2A Thread of Blue (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Luis Saez 120 Kiaran P. McLaughlin 7/2
3 3Taos (FR) Junior Alvarado 118 Jean-Claude Rouget 15/1
4 4Bourbon War (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Jose Lezcano 118 Mark A. Hennig 4/1
5 5Digital Age (IRE) Irad Ortiz, Jr. 122 Chad C. Brown 9/2
6 6Seismic Wave (KY) Kendrick Carmouche 118 William I. Mott 6/1
7 7Standard Deviation (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate John R. Velazquez 118 Chad C. Brown 5/1
8 8Neptune's Storm (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Ricardo Santana, Jr. 118 Richard Baltas 8/1
9 9Uncle Benny (KY) Manuel Franco 118 Jason Servis 10/1




Entries: Belmont Turf Sprint Invitational S.

Belmont Park, Saturday, October 05, 2019, Race 5

  • STK
  • 6f
  • Turf
  • $150,000
  • 3 yo's & up
  • 2:32 PM (local)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L
1 1They Shot Sonny (PA)Keeneland Sales Graduate Luis A. Rodriguez Castro 120 Alejandro Maymo 50/1
2 2Gidu (IRE) Manuel Franco 124 Todd A. Pletcher 8/1
3 3Final Frontier (KY) Jose Lezcano 120 Thomas Albertrani 7/2
4 4Hawkish (KY) John R. Velazquez 126 James J. Toner 6/1
5 5Shekky Shebaz (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Irad Ortiz, Jr. 124 Jason Servis 7/5
6 6Fully Vested (KY) Luis Saez 122 Thomas Albertrani 12/1
7 7Disco Partner (NY) Junior Alvarado 126 Christophe Clement 5/2