Another Miracle Aims for Another Stakes Win

After winning two of his first three starts, including a clear victory in his turf and stakes debut Aug. 16 in the Skidmore Stakes at Saratoga Race Course, Another Miracle will look to punch his Breeders' Cup ticket in the $150,000 Futurity Stakes (G3T) Oct. 6 at Belmont Park.

Another Miracle is one of six juveniles entered in the Futurity at six furlongs on the Widener course. It is a Breeders' Cup Challenge "Win and You're In" race to the five-furlong Juvenile Turf Sprint (G2T) Nov. 1 at Santa Anita Park.

Leonard and Jonathan Green's Another Miracle won a July 24 maiden race that was moved from the turf to the dirt at Saratoga. The next start for the son of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah  trained by Gary Contessa was the Skidmore, where he tracked in second early before taking command at the sixteenth pole to win by 1 3/4 lengths.

In his July 4 debut at Belmont, Another Miracle finished second to eventual Saratoga Special Stakes (G2) winner Green Light Go. Contessa believes his talented juvenile can run on dirt or turf.

"There's nothing to be said bad about him on the dirt. He ran into possibly the best 2-year-old in the country (in Green Light Go)," Contessa said. "But I had the opportunity to try turf next out, and we loved the way he had worked on it. Plus, all the American Pharoahs have been excelling on the turf."

Contessa hopes Another Miracle can continue his turf prowess Sunday and punch his Breeders' Cup ticket.

"It's a 'Win and You're In' race, and there are so many of these races that there's only a few spots left once all the 'Win and You're In' spots are taken," Contessa said. "So we need a big race on Sunday."

Video: Skidmore S. (BT)

Contessa said the compact but powerful colt may be able to stretch out his speed a little farther in future races.

"I think he can stretch out, but at some point he'll have a limitation because he's a small horse," Contessa said. "He's a little fireball, but he's only 15 hands tall. I don't know if the wall will be seven-eighths or a mile, or maybe he'll surprise us … but he's smaller in stature."

The field includes two other early stakes winners in Dare To Dream Stable's Embolden, a son of The Factor  who won a pair of turf sprints at Colonial Downs this summer, including a 3 3/4-length score in the Jamestown Stakes for Virginia-breds; and Breeze Easy's Four Wheel Drive, a son of American Pharoah who won the Aug. 31 Rosie's Stakes.

Trainer Todd Pletcher, who won the inaugural edition of the Juvenile Turf Sprint last year with Bulletin, has entered Freewheeler off a maiden win in a turf sprint at Saratoga. 

Rounding out the field are Tomato Bill, who will make his first turf start after finishing second in the Sanford Stakes (G3), and Jack and Noah, who was supplemented off a Sept. 27 debut maiden win on the Belmont inner turf.

Entries: Futurity S. (G3T)

Belmont Park, Sunday, October 06, 2019, Race 7

• Grade IIIT
• 6f
• Turf
• $150,000
• 2 yo
• 4:12 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Freewheeler (NY)	John R. Velazquez	120	Todd A. Pletcher	5/1
2	2Tomato Bill (KY)	Kendrick Carmouche	120	Christophe Clement	8/1
3	3Embolden (VA)	Joel Rosario	122	Michael Stidham	7/2
4	4Four Wheel Drive (KY)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	122	Wesley A. Ward	9/5
5	5Another Miracle (KY)	Manuel Franco	122	Gary C. Contessa	5/2
6	6Jack and Noah (FR)	Jose Lezcano	120	Mark E. Casse	6/1