Gidu Looks to Return to Form in Hall of Fame Stakes

The Zayat Stables principals hope their Frankel colt Gidu will return to form after a cross-Atlantic trip as he competes against 10 other 3-year-olds in the 34th running of the $200,000 National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame Stakes (G2T) Aug. 3 at Saratoga Race Course.

Gidu finished sixth in the June 22 Commonwealth Cup  (G1) at Royal Ascot. The trip to Europe came after the gray or roan runner won back-to-back stakes, taking the March 10 Columbia by 1 3/4 lengths at Tampa Bay Downs and edging Curlin's Honor by a neck to win the May 26 Paradise Creek at Belmont Park.

The Todd Pletcher trainee started his career as a sprinter and returned to that distance in the seven-furlong Paradise Creek. He will now take aim at the Hall of Fame's 1 1/16-mile distance on the turf in his first appearance at the Spa since running second in his debut Aug. 14.

"I thought he ran well (at Royal Ascot)," Pletcher said. "He's won at a mile and it's kind of that time of year where there's not a ton of options for 3-year-olds on the turf going six to seven furlongs, so we're going to try to stretch him out to a mile and a sixteenth and see how he handles that."

The Irish-bred colt has three wins and two seconds in five starts in North America and will again have the services of Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez from post 6.

Gidu's stablemate, Maraud, will look to notch his third graded stakes win. The son of Blame  took the May 5 American Turf Stakes presented by Ram Trucks (G2T) at Churchill Downs and will be cutting back in distance after a sixth-place finish in the 10-furlong Belmont Derby Invitational Stakes (G1T) July 7.

Combatant has come close to his first stakes win and will look to make the next step for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen. The Scat Daddy colt ran fifth in the June 16 Matt Winn Stakes (G3) and will try turf for the first time since finishing fourth in his debut over the course at Churchill Sept. 24.

Raging Bull enters the weekend with momentum after finishing second in the July 4 Manila Stakes in his first stakes appearance after starting his career 2-for-2 for trainer Chad Brown.

Owned by Peter Brant, the son of Dark Angel will be making his first start at more than a mile.

"Raging Bull is doing really well, I'm excited to get him in there," Brown said. "He's a lightly raced horse but he has a ton of talent."

Ride a Comet, trained by Mark Casse, will carry a two-race winning streak into the Hall of Fame Stakes and has won four of his last five starts. After winning a sprint against allowance company June 1, the Candy Ride  colt won the June 30 Charlie Barley Stakes going one mile on the turf at Woodbine.

Have At It won an optional claimer at Belmont July 5, giving trainer Christophe Clement confidence to go up against more challenging competition. Sired by Kitten's Joy , Have At It has the pedigree to go longer distances and has been training at Saratoga, where he breezed four furlongs in :51.22 on the Oklahoma turf track July 27.

"He worked very well over softer turf the other day and I think the conditions will suit him even better," Clement said. "His last race was impressive. It was a strong work here and he galloped out strongly. With rain forecast, we'll go from there."

Entries: National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame S. (G2T)

Saratoga Race Course, Friday, August 03, 2018, Race 9

• Grade IIT
• 1 1/16m
• Turf
• $200,000
• 3 yo
• 5:40 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Gemonteer (KY)	Manuel Franco	122	Jena M. Antonucci	10/1
2	2Maraud (KY)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	124	Todd A. Pletcher	5/1
3	3Gunnison (KY)	Jevian Toledo	122	Kelly Rubley	15/1
4	4Raging Bull (FR)	Joel Rosario	118	Chad C. Brown	3/1
5	5Ride a Comet (KY)	Jose L. Ortiz	122	Mark E. Casse	8/1
6	6Gidu (IRE)	John R. Velazquez	122	Todd A. Pletcher	5/2
7	7Combatant (KY)	Ricardo Santana, Jr.	116	Steven M. Asmussen	10/1
8	8Sand Dancer (KY)	Luis Saez	122	Timothy A. Hills	20/1
9	9Have At It (KY)	Javier Castellano	118	Christophe Clement	12/1
10	10Battle At Sea (LA)	Kendrick Carmouche	116	Michael J. Maker	30/1
11	11Westerland (GB)	Florent Geroux	118	William I. Mott	12/1