Annapolis May Outrank Opposition in Pilgrim

Though the Oct. 3 $200,000 Pilgrim Stakes (G2T) at Belmont Park is not an official Breeders' Cup Challenge series qualifier, its impact as an instrumental prep is unmistakable. Three of its last five winners have captured the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T): Oscar Performance   (2016), Structor  (2019), and Fire At Will  (2020). 

This year's field is headed by the regally bred Annapolis , who passed his maiden test with aplomb and now steps into stakes company for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher. Sunday's Pilgrim is at 1 1/16 miles over the inner turf.

Owned and bred by Bass Stables, Annapolis was a stylish winner on debut going 1 1/16 miles over the Saratoga Race Course inner turf Sept. 4. The bay son of prolific sire War Front   and second offspring out of graded stakes winner My Miss Sophia  was eighth early before picking up his pace and drawing away to a 4 1/2-length win. 

"He trained like he was going to run well in his debut, but it's hard sometimes to win going a mile and a sixteenth first out," Pletcher said. "He did everything right, settled in well, put in a good run, and kicked on. He moved up on a nice field of horses and I couldn't have asked for more on debut."

Irad Ortiz Jr. will return to the irons from post 3.

Pletcher also entered Repole Stable's Midnight Worker  (Outwork  ), who makes his turf debut under Luis Saez following a stakes placing. 

Chad Brown will seek his fourth Pilgrim triumph when saddling Portfolio Company , who seeks to build on a runner-up effort in the With Anticipation Stakes (G3T) last out at Saratoga. 

Owned by Seth Klarman's Klaravich Stables, Portfolio Company was a debut winner July 17 there before growing rank in the With Anticipation.

Brown said the Kitten's Joy   colt has been training with a new bit in advance of the Pilgrim.

"We've been working with the horse," Brown said. "After that debut, he got a little keen with us and Irad had some trouble with him in that race, especially after he didn't break that well and he was trying to catch up. It just was a big mess. We're doing our best to get him to settle and changed some equipment on him. The horse seems to be doing pretty well."

Joel Rosario will pick up the mount on the inside-drawn runner. 

Limited Liability , another Kitten's Joy colt who ran third in the With Anticipation, will attempt to give owner Stuart Janney III and Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey their second collaborative Pilgrim victory after teaming up with Air Support  in 2010. 

Completing the six-horse field are Doctor Jeff  and the maiden City At Night .

Brown Chases Fifth Waya Win

Another graded turf stakes on the Sunday card at Belmont is the $300,000 Fasig-Tipton Waya Stakes (G3T), a 1 3/8-mile inner turf test for fillies and mares.

Brown goes for his fifth career Waya win and third straight in the marathon turf race. Peter Brant's My Sister Nat , who won the Waya last year for the trainer when it was contested at Saratoga, returns, and Brown also starts Orglandes  for owners Michael Dubb, Madaket Stables, Wonder Stables, and Michael Caruso. 

Christophe Clement will saddle a pair of formidable contenders in R Unicorn Stable's Call Me Love  and Moyglare Stud Farm's Beautiful Lover .

Repole Stable homebred Always Shopping  also figures to contend for Pletcher.

The remaining two entrants are Lovely Lucky  and Sister Otoole .

Entries: Pilgrim S. (G2T)

Belmont Park, Sunday, October 03, 2021, Race 4

• Grade II
• 1 1/16m
• Inner turf
• $200,000
• 2 yo
• 2:36 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Portfolio Company (KY)	Joel Rosario	120	Chad C. Brown	5/2
2	2Midnight Worker (KY)	Luis Saez	120	Todd A. Pletcher	8/1
3	3Annapolis (KY)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	120	Todd A. Pletcher	6/5
4	4Limited Liability (KY)	Jose L. Ortiz	120	Claude R. McGaughey III	7/2
5	5Doctor Jeff (KY)	Jose Lezcano	120	Rudy R. Rodriguez	8/1
6	6City At Night (KY)	Kendrick Carmouche	118	Michael J. Maker	10/1

Entries: Fasig-Tipton Waya S. (G3T)

Belmont Park, Sunday, October 03, 2021, Race 8

• Grade III
• 1 3/8m
• Inner turf
• $300,000
• 3 yo's & up Fillies and Mares
• 4:44 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Lovely Lucky (KY)	Dylan Davis	122	Thomas Albertrani	12/1
2	2Always Shopping (KY)	Ricardo Santana, Jr.	126	Todd A. Pletcher	5/1
3	3Sister Otoole (FL)	Luis Saez	122	H. Graham Motion	15/1
4	4Orglandes (FR)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	122	Chad C. Brown	6/1
5	5Call Me Love (GB)	Manuel Franco	124	Christophe Clement	6/1
6	6Beautiful Lover (FL)	Joel Rosario	122	Christophe Clement	9/2
7	7My Sister Nat (FR)	Jose L. Ortiz	122	Chad C. Brown	1/1