Archidust Enters Belmont Turf Sprint on a Roll

A change of scenery certainly hasn't fazed Archidust.

After racing for trainer Jorge Navarro, and winning five of 12 starts, Crawford Farms Racing's Archidust was moved to the barn of Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen after Navarro was indicted on federal charges related to race doping in March.

Since then, Archidust has been better than ever.

He's reeled off a pair of stakes wins and will try to make it a perfect 3-for-3 for Asmussen when a field of nine will break from the gate Oct. 4 in the six-furlong $150,000 Belmont Turf Sprint Invitational Stakes (G3T) at Belmont Park.

A 4-year-old Verrazano colt bred in Kentucky by Wolverton Mountain Farm, Archidust prevailed in the July 18 Wolf Hill Stakes at Monmouth Park in his first start for Asmussen and then returned to the Jersey Shore track to take the Aug. 23 Get Serious Stakes in his last start.

Both of those wins were at 5 1/2 furlongs on the turf.

Bought for $300,000 by Juan Pacannis, agent, from the Whitman Sales consignment at the 2018 OBS March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, Archidust has won seven of 14 starts with a second and three thirds for earnings of $353,400.

RB Racing's Battle Station is also coming off a stakes win in his second start for a new trainer. The 5-year-old Warrior's Reward  gelding surged from third to post a 1 1/4-length victory at 20-1 odds in the Sept. 6 Lucky Coin Stakes at Saratoga Race Course for trainer Rob Atras.

"He ran back in just a week (in the Lucky Coin), so we backed off him for a little while and let him recover, and it seems like he came out of it good," Atras said. "He runs pretty much over anything: dirt, turf, off-track; he has a lot of ability and a lot of heart. He doesn't really have a lot of quirks. He goes out there and he's all business all the time. It's nice. It makes my job a lot easier."

Bred in New York by Lansdowne Thoroughbreds, Battle Station was fifth in an Aug. 28 allowance optional claimer at the Spa while racing for Atras for the first time.

Atras is Battle Station's third trainer since June.

Marc Keller's Pulsate comes into the Belmont Turf Sprint after pressing the pace in the Lucky Coin and forging to a short lead in the stretch, only to settle for second while bidding for an initial stakes win. Trained by Robert Ribaudo, he was fifth in the Troy Stakes (G3T) in his previous outing.

The most intriguing starter is Peter Brant's Fog of War, who will be cutting back to a sprint for the first time since his 2018 career debut. 

A grade 1 winner at 2 for trainer Chad Brown, injuries brought an abrupt end to his 2- and 3-year-old seasons and sidelined the War Front  4-year-old for nearly a year. He returned from that 12-month layoff Aug. 1, but faded to sixth at 2-1 odds in a mile allowance-level race and cuts back to a sprint in search of his first win since triumphing in the 2018 Summer Stakes (G1T).

The full field of 10 includes main track only entrant Chateau.

Entries: Belmont Turf Sprint Invitational S. (G3T)

Belmont Park, Sunday, October 04, 2020, Race 9

• Grade IIIT
• 6f
• Turf
• $150,000
• 3 yo's & up
• 5:20 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Chewing Gum (KY)	Javier Castellano	124	William I. Mott	3/1
2	2Holiday Stone (KY)	Dylan Davis	124	Eddie Kenneally	8/1
3	3Backtohisroots (KY)	Jose Lezcano	124	John P. Terranova II	6/1
4	4Wet Your Whistle (KY)	Jose L. Ortiz	126	Michael J. Trombetta	10/1
5	5Archidust (KY)	Eric Cancel	124	Steven M. Asmussen	5/2
6	6Big Wonder (NY)	Luis Cardenas	120	Naipaul Chatterpaul	50/1
7	7Fog of War (KY)	Manuel Franco	124	Chad C. Brown	10/1
8	8Battle Station (NY)	Kendrick Carmouche	122	Rob Atras	6/1
9	9Pulsate (KY)	Junior Alvarado	120	Robert Ribaudo	6/1
10	10Chateau (KY)	Rider TBA	120	Rob Atras	9/2