Stage Left, Mr Phil Battle Drafted in Runhappy

Stage Left  is fast and in good form, having earned two consecutive Equibase Speed Figures of 101 or higher, one of which came in a winning effort two weeks ago in the April 29 King T. Leatherbury Stakes at Laurel Park.

Now, he rises in company for the $175,000 Runhappy Stakes (G3) May 13 at Belmont Park, where he receives a class test on relatively short rest. The sharp sprinter faces five others in the six-furlong dash, among them the popular veteran closer Drafted , last year's winner.

Stage Left, a 7-year-old Congrats  gelding owned and trained by David Jacobson and ridden Saturday by Kentucky Derby (G1)-winning jockey Javier Castellano, is 9-for-34 overall with earnings of $505,483.

That is less than half of the bankroll of Drafted, the field's lone millionaire with earnings of $1,176,943. He is 10-for-35.

Video: King T. Leatherbury S. (BT)

Trainer David Duggan trains the gray 9-year-old Field Commission  gelding for Dublin Fjord Stables, Racepoint Stables, Kevin D. Hilbert, and Thomas E. O'Keefe.

Saturday will mark his first start since he was sixth in the Tom Fool Handicap (G3) March 4 at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Initially considered for a start this spring at Laurel Park, Drafted remained at Duggan's Belmont barn.

"He's training well now and we freshened him up a bit after the last race," Duggan said.

The inside-drawn Drafted will be ridden by jockey Jose Ortiz, who piloted the horse to his Toboggan Stakes (G3) and Runhappy victories last year. 

Mr Phil will make his second start off an eight-month layoff for trainer Rob Atras. The 6-year-old Mr Speaker   gelding went gate-to-wire in an April 20 allowance optional claimer, where he held off Stage Left by a neck. The latter was bumped at the break.

"He does get quite brave on the front end, but I don't think he needs to be there," Atras said. "If he can break sharp and be in the front, that's always a positive, but he has come from right off the pace before."

Mr Phil, owned by Sanford Goldfarb, Madaket Stables, Jorge Casal, and The Estate of Ira Davis, will break from post 6 under Manny Franco. 

Trainer Butch Reid Jr. will saddle the highly consistent Beren , who returns to Belmont for the first time since May 2021 when he took the Gold Fever Stakes and an off-the-turf edition of the Paradise Creek Stakes. The Parx Racing-based Beren races for Susan Quick and Christopher Feifarek and will have Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard.

Completing the field are graded stakes winner Candy Man Rocket  and Twisted Ride , who has won four in a row at Parx.

The Runhappy, named to honor Jim McIngvale's 2015 champion male sprinter, is carded as the ninth race on Saturday's 11-race program, which also features the $600,000 Man o' War Stakes (G1T) and the $200,000 Peter Pan Stakes (G3).