No Nay Hudson to Move Up in Tremont Stakes

Andrew Farm and For the People Racing Stable's No Nay Hudson  highlights a field of eight maiden winners who will make their first stakes appearance in the $150,000 Tremont Stakes over the main track June 9 at Belmont Park.

Trained by Wesley Ward, the Irish-bred son of No Nay Never  was an impressive debut winner sprinting 4 1/2 furlongs over a fast Keeneland main track April 28 with Hall of Famer John Velazquez in the irons. The 2-year-old colt made the lead from post 7 and improved his margins at every point of call to win by four lengths in a final time of :51.92.

"He's certainly speedy," Ward said. "He's done everything right since his race, before the race, and in the race."

No Nay Hudson breezed five furlongs May 20 in 1:06.40 over a good Keeneland turf course in his first work back from the victory as a potential prep for a trip overseas. Ward rerouted the colt to the Tremont after his work showed he was not ready for soft turf.

"We worked him over the soft turf at Keeneland because we had aspirations to go to England with him and he kind of faltered on the soft turf," Ward said. "More often than not, that's what you're going to get over at Ascot. So, we opted to keep him on the dirt. If grass is on his horizon, it'll be later on."

Out of the graded stakes-winning Malibu Moon  mare Raw Silk , No Nay Hudson was a $190,000 purchase at the 2021 Keeneland September Yearling Sale and is a half brother to the stakes-placed Tailor's Row .

Also contesting the Tremont is Celeritas Racing and trainer Rudy Rodriguez's Valenzan Day , who enters as the only horse to have run at Belmont, sprinting five furlongs May 12 over a fast Big Sandy in his victorious debut, Zelenskyy Strong , an impressive debut winner April 22 at Gulfstream Park for trainer Peter Walder, and Brian Lynch trainee Two of a Kind  comes off a win May 4 at Churchill Downs.

Impressive Debut Winner Devious Dame Heads Astoria Stakes

John C. Oxley's Devious Dame  leads a promising field of six 2-year-old fillies in the $150,000 Astoria Stakes also on the June 9 card at Belmont.

Devious Dame, trained by Norm Casse, drew off to a 5 1/2-length debut score under Joe Talamo, sprinting five furlongs in :58.09 over a fast main track May 5 at Churchill Downs.

"We knew she was talented, but we never get overly excited with first-time starters until they run. She seems like she has all the tools to be a talented horse," Casse said. 

Casse said it was impressive that the dark bay was able to win going short, since she is by multiple graded stakes-winning router Girvin   and out of the Quality Road   mare The Shady Lady.

"She does train and act like a two-turn horse, but she's obviously quick enough to win sprint races. Usually, that's a pretty potent combination," Casse said.

Devious Dame's score marked the first for Casse and Oxley in tandem.

"When she won it was really a dream come true to see one of our horses win in Mr. Oxley's colors. We're really excited to have the opportunity," Casse said.

The $240,000 2022 Ocala Breeders' Sales' March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training purchase will be piloted by Joel Rosario.

Also entered in the Astoria is Michael Yates' Shadybrook Farm's Florida-homebred Girl Bye , who posted a front-running 6 1/2-length debut score sprinting 4 1/2 furlongs April 21 over the main track at Gulfstream Park.

The Cajun Breeze   chestnut, with returning rider Marcos Meneses up, marked off splits of :22.33 and :46.20 en route to a facile score in a final time of :52.75.

"She ran very well. I thought she was very professional," said trainer Yates. "It's always a bit of a guess when you're running early, but she had worked well prior and I expected her to do what she did with those horses."

Girl Bye has worked back twice out of her maiden score, including a half-mile effort in :48.98 over the Gulfstream main track May 28, prompting Yates to look for another opportunity to run the talented filly.

"She's had a couple of nice works back-to-back after running and tipped her hand that she was doing well and moving forward. So, rather than give her time off I started hunting through condition books," Yates said.

Yates said he will let Meneses work out the trip, but noted the filly has shown an ability to rate if needed.

"She acts like she has a lot of class. When she works, she waits on the rider. She's not just a run off. She'll wait for her cue. But that's in the morning, so we'll see how that translates to the afternoon."

Entries: Tremont S.

Belmont Park, Thursday, June 09, 2022, Race 8

• STK
• 5 1/2f
• Dirt
• $150,000
• 2 yo
• 6:45 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Stayhonor Goodside (ON)	Dylan Davis	122	Mark E. Casse	8/1
2	2Little J P (PA)	Dexter Haddock	122	Chad Summers	20/1
3	3Putthepastbehind (FL)	Jeiron Barbosa	122	Nicholas Sideris	8/1
4	4No Nay Hudson (IRE)	John R. Velazquez	122	Wesley A. Ward	5/2
5	5Valenzan Day (FL)	Joel Rosario	122	Rudy R. Rodriguez	7/2
6	6Bisping (LA)	Kendrick Carmouche	122	Rob Atras	12/1
7	7Two of a Kind (KY)	Luis Saez	122	Brian A. Lynch	3/1
8	8Zelenskyy Strong (FL)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	122	Peter R. Walder	5/1

Entries: Astoria S.

Belmont Park, Thursday, June 09, 2022, Race 6

• STK
• 5 1/2f
• Dirt
• $150,000
• 2 yo Fillies
• 5:43 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Alexis's Storm (KY)	Trevor McCarthy	122	James L. Lawrence, II	5/1
2	2Magic Beauty (KY)	Jose Antonio Gomez	120	James K. Chapman	20/1
3	3Born Dapper (KY)	Luis Saez	120	Jonathan Thomas	5/2
4	4Shaymyname (KY)	Eric Cancel	120	Amira Chichakly	30/1
5	5Girl Bye (FL)	Marcos Meneses	122	Michael Yates	9/2
6	6Devious Dame (FL)	Joel Rosario	122	Norm W. Casse	4/5