Belmont Card Includes Belmont Turf Sprint, Hill Prince

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Belmont Card Includes Belmont Turf Sprint, Hill Prince
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Photo: Coglianese Photos/Chris Rahayel
Raging Bull will try for a third straight graded stakes win Oct. 6 at Belmont Park

Besides grade 1 clashes in the Beldame and Champagne stakes Oct. 6 at Belmont Park, Saturday's 11-race card also includes races for top turf sprinters and 3-year-old turf runners.

The $500,000 Hill Prince Stakes (G2T) at 1 1/8 miles on the inner turf has attracted an expected field of eight 3-year-olds, including Raging Bull, who enters off back-to-back graded stakes wins at Saratoga Race Course.

Peter Brant's Raging Bull, a French-bred son of Dark Angel, registered a narrow victory in the Hall of Fame Stakes (G2T) Aug. 3 on yielding turf at the Spa before posting a clear victory in the Saranac Stakes (G3T) there on good turf. Raging Bull is trained by Chad Brown, and regular rider Joel Rosario gets the call Saturday.

Some familiar rivals await Raging Bull in John Oxley and My Meadowview Farm's Ride a Comet and Live Oak Plantation's March to the Arch. Those two are both trained by Mark Casse.

Ride a Comet finished third in the Hall of Fame. After that race, the son of Candy Ride  was shipped west for the Sept. 2 Del Mar Derby (G2T), where he rallied to a clear victory in a field of 12 to secure his first graded stakes win. March to the Arch will be making his first start since the Sept. 1 Saranac, a race he entered off a clear victory in the Toronto Cup Stakes July 28 on the Woodbine turf.

While it's not yet graded, the $150,000 Belmont Turf Sprint Invitational Stakes features some of the division's top runners in Disco Partner and Pure Sensation. They are Patricia Generazio homebreds trained by Christophe Clement who have won the first two editions of this race.

Disco Partner dropped his past two races, but the 6-year-old son of Disco Rico has dominated in turf sprints on either Belmont course. He scored a clear victory in last year's Belmont Sprint Championship and this year won the Jaipur Invitational Stakes (G2T) a second straight year. 

Stablemate Pure Sensation enters Saturday's six-furlong inner turf test off a neck victory in the Turf Monster Stakes (G3T) Sept. 3 at Parx Racing—the third time he's won that five-furlong race. The 7-year-old son of Zensational won the 2016 Jaipur and Belmont Turf Sprint.

"Both horses are doing well," said Christophe Lorieul, longtime assistant to Clement. "Obviously, Pure Sensation coming out of the win at Parx in the Turf Monster. He ran well that day, and Disco Partner has been a little bit unlucky in his last two starts. The firmness of the ground is a big factor for him, but with the race going at his usual distance, we hope he gives a good account of himself. They have two different styles. Pure Sensation is usually close or on the lead, and Disco Partner is more of a stalker. They both deserve a shot to run here, and we'll try to win it again."


Entries: Belmont Turf Sprint Invitational S.

Belmont Park, Saturday, October 06, 2018, Race 7

  • STK
  • 6f
  • Inner turf
  • $150,000
  • 3 yo's & up
  • 3:50 PM (local)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L
1 1Disco Partner (NY) Irad Ortiz, Jr. 124 Christophe Clement 2/1
2 2Blind Ambition (KY) Manuel Franco 122 Todd A. Pletcher 9/2
3 3Simon Bar Sinister (FL) Rajiv Maragh 118 John F. Mazza 30/1
4 4Maniacal (KY) Eric Cancel 118 Michael J. Maker 30/1
5 5Pure Sensation (FL) Jose L. Ortiz 124 Christophe Clement 5/2
6 6Proforma (KY) Joe Bravo 124 Michael Stidham 5/1
7 7Pocket Change (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Junior Alvarado 118 Jason Servis 6/1
8 8Gidu (IRE) Joel Rosario 120 Todd A. Pletcher 8/1


Entries: Hill Prince S. (G2T)

Belmont Park, Saturday, October 06, 2018, Race 9

  • Grade II
  • 1 1/8m
  • Inner turf
  • $500,000
  • 3 yo
  • 5:00 PM (local)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L
1 1Have At It (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate David Cohen 116 Christophe Clement 8/1
2 2Prioritize (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Dylan Davis 116 H. James Bond 15/1
3 3Raging Bull (FR) Joel Rosario 120 Chad C. Brown 6/5
4 4Cullum Road (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Jose L. Ortiz 116 Michael J. Maker 10/1
5 5March to the Arch (FL) Irad Ortiz, Jr. 116 Mark E. Casse 4/1
6 6Golden Brown (NJ) Jairo Rendon 118 Patrick B. McBurney 12/1
7 7Sand Dancer (KY) Joe Bravo 116 Timothy A. Hills 20/1
8 8Ride a Comet (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Manuel Franco 120 Mark E. Casse 3/1