Decorated Invader Shortens Up in Hill Prince

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Decorated Invader Shortens Up in Hill Prince
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Photo: Coglianese Photos/Chelsea Durand
Decorated Invader after winning the Hall of Fame Stakes at Saratoga Race Course

After stakes schedules were turned topsy-turvy by the COVID-19 pandemic, an old nemesis returned last holiday weekend to disrupt turf racing at Belmont Park.

Gloomy forecasts calling for Mother Nature to soak Belmont with rain for the Oct. 12 card prompted New York Racing Association officials to shift a pair of $150,000 graded turf stakes, the Hill Prince Stakes (G2T) and the Knickerbocker Stakes (G2T), from Monday's card to the hopefully drier surroundings of Oct. 18.

Whether the six-day delay helps or hurts any of the entrants remains to be seen, but for trainer Christophe Clement, who will send out Decorated Invader to face eight foes (including a main-track-only entrant) in the mile Hill Prince, the wait did not present any problems.

"To tell you the truth, being stabled at Belmont Park, I was able to breeze him last weekend and I'm very happy," Clement said. "Everything is good."

Decorated Invader, a son of Declaration of War owned by West Point Thoroughbreds, William Freeman, William Sandbrook, and Cheryl Manning, comes into the stakes for 3-year-olds after suffering his first loss of the year.

A winner of three consecutive stakes to start the year, including the Pennine Ridge Stakes (G2T) and National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame Stakes (G2T), Decorated Invader was sent off as the 4-5 favorite in the Aug. 15 Saratoga Derby Invitational Stakes but weakened in the stretch of the 1 3/16-mile test. He wound up fifth, a little less than a length behind the victorious Domestic Spending.

That setback, the first for Decorated Invader since a wide trip led to a fourth-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Presented by Coolmore America (G1T), prompted Clement to try Decorated Invader at a shorter eight-furlong distance, where he has won three of four starts.

"I love the mile for him. I think he has a high cruising speed," said Clement, who seeks a fourth Hill Prince victory. "When he lost (in the Saratoga Derby), it was a bit frustrating but he didn't run a bad race. We gave him a bit of a break and he's training forwardly."

With rain in the Oct. 16 forecast, there could be soft turf for Sunday's stakes, but with a victory last year in the Summer Stakes (G1T) on yielding turf, that prospect should not hinder the son of the Arch mare Gamely Girl.

"He won on soft turf last year, and as long as it's not too extreme, he will be fine," Clement said. "He's a good horse. He can handle anything."

A winner of five of eight starts with earnings of $473,035 and bred by Redmon Farm, Decorated Invader was bought for $200,000 by West Point Thoroughbreds from the Indian Creek consignment at the 2018 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. He is the seventh foal and lone graded stakes winner for Gamely Girl, who also produced Casamance, a weanling Distorted Humor filly.

Get Smokin, who was second to Decorated Invader this year in the Hall of Fame Stakes and third behind him in the March 28 Cutler Bay Stakes at Gulfstream Park before setting the pace and fading to eighth in the Saratoga Derby, should also appreciate the shorter distance of the Hill Prince.

Trained by Thomas Bush and owned by the Mary Abeel Sullivan Revocable Trust, the son of Get Stormy  is winless in six starts this year but has been knocking on the door with a trio of runner-up finishes and a third.

Klaravich Stables' Assiduously, a Lope de Vega colt, will make his stakes debut while trying to give trainer Chad Brown a third Hill Prince win.

The Hill Prince will be the ninth race of the day with a post time of 4:47 p.m. ET.


Entries: Hill Prince S. (G2T)

Belmont Park, Sunday, October 18, 2020, Race 9

  • Grade IIT
  • 1m
  • Turf
  • $150,000
  • 3 yo
  • 4:47 PM (local)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L
1 1Get Smokin (KY) Javier Castellano 118 Thomas M. Bush 5/1
2 2Glynn County (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Jose L. Ortiz 118 Michael J. Maker 15/1
3 3Decorated Invader (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Joel Rosario 124 Christophe Clement 1/1
4 4Bodecream (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Irad Ortiz, Jr. 118 Michael J. Maker 8/1
5 5Starting Over (KY) Dylan Davis 118 Robert N. Falcone, Jr. 20/1
6 6Chocolate Bar (KY) Kendrick Carmouche 118 Michael J. Maker 12/1
7 7Buy Land and See (PA) Jose Lezcano 118 Steve Klesaris 4/1
8 8Money Moves (KY) Luis Saez 118 Todd A. Pletcher 1/2
9 9Assiduously (GB) Luis Saez 118 Chad C. Brown 8/1