Bishops Bay Ready to Roll in Salvator Mile

Bishops Bay  appears primed to land his fourth consecutive victory when he visits the Jersey Shore for the $150,000 Salvator Mile Stakes (G3) June 14 at Monmouth Park.

A narrow runner-up to eventual Belmont (G1) and Travers (G1) stakes hero Arcangelo   in the 2023 Peter Pan Stakes (G3), the son of Uncle Mo has begun to live up to that promising performance this season as a 5-year-old. The Brad Cox trainee has captured four of his past five starts since returning to action with a decisive allowance score at Horseshoe Indianapolis last November. He enjoyed a successful winter meet at Oaklawn Park, taking the American Pharoah Overnight Stakes in gate-to-wire fashion before adding the title of graded stakes winner May 4 in the Westchester Stakes (G3) at Aqueduct Racetrack.

All four of Bishops Bay's wins have generated triple-digit Equibase Speed Figures. He posted a career-best 111 ESF in his Westchester effort, in which he clocked the mile in a sharp 1:34.19 on a muddy (sealed) track.

The only last-out stakes winner in the field, Bishops Bay will tote the high weight of 124 pounds with Flavien Prat aboard. He will break from the outside in the field of nine in the two-turn mile contest.

"I love the spot for him," Cox said. "He's been very consistent in the afternoon. It would be nice to win a couple graded stakes. I do like him in that middle distance. I'm not saying he wouldn't go further, I wouldn't say he couldn't go shorter. He's a pretty versatile horse. We'll see what happens Saturday, but I think it's a good spot. He showed that he could run around one turn last time, that was encouraging. Obviously he's run well around two turns, so we'll see what happens on Saturday."

Tuscan Sky , from the Todd Pletcher barn, will be searching for his first win since dominating the Pegasus Stakes field at Monmouth last summer. The Repole Stable runner makes his second start since being gelded, and goes back to the dirt after finishing a well-beaten fifth in the May 3 Fort Marcy Stakes (G2T) on the turf. 

Ontario-bred Vitality, a winner of the 2024 Prince of Wales Stakes in Canada, enters the Salvator Mile off a four-length first-level allowance score at Gulfstream Park May 11 for trainer Joe Orseno.

BloodHorse's Sean Collins contributed to this story. 

Insights From Thoro-Graph

• Trademark  has figures that would make him strong here, but they came two years ago.
• Tuscan Sky ran poorly on grass last time, but has dirt figures that make him a borderline contender, and has been threatening to break through with better.
• Offaly Cool  has been running stakes-level figures in optional claimers at Parx Racing. He comes back a little quick and ships for this, but if he can fire one of his good ones he has a big shot.
• Surface to Air  got dramatically better after the barn switch last year, and if he's ready to fire his best shot he's a borderline contender.
• Vitality improved dramatically after he switched to dirt. His first start this year, and first for Joe Orseno, was his best yet, and possibly good enough to win this if he can run back to it.
• Bishops Bay ran the best race of his life last time out. He draws outside and spots over a Thoro-Graph point in weight to the entire field, and needs to run back to his last to have a decent chance. A reversion to his previous level won't get it done here.

Thoro-Graph performance figures are calculated based on a race's time with adjustments for beaten lengths, track speed, ground loss, weight carried, and when necessary, wind. The lower the number, the better the race. Complimentary sheets for the Salvator Mile can be found online at Thoro-Graph. Learn more about how to analyze Thoro-Graph data at www.thorograph.com/basics.

garamond ships into town for Pegasus Stakes

Although there are several proven stakes winners in the field, the lightly raced Garamond  may be the horse to beat in Saturday's $150,000 Pegasus Stakes, Monmouth's traditional prep race for the $1 million Haskell Stakes (G1) July 19. 

A winner on debut this winter at Tampa Bay Downs for trainer Chad Brown, the Juddmonte homebred ran third in the Gotham Stakes (G3) before rebounding with a 3 1/4-length, front-running victory in a one-mile allowance optional claiming contest at Aqueduct April 27. 

Piloted by Prat, Garamond will face his first two-turn test Saturday in the 1 1/16-mile Pegasus.

Other contenders of note looking to earn a spot toward the Haskell include Bracket Buster , a game runner-up in the Lexington Stakes (G3) behind Preakness Stakes (G1) second Gosger  two starts back; blow-out Jersey Derby winner Barbadian Runner ; and multiple stakes-placed Just a Fair Shake .