Fog of War Returns in Belmont's Paradise Creek Stakes

Peter M. Brant's Fog of War will make his 3-year-old debut May 25 when he takes on a field of seven others assembled for the $100,000 Paradise Creek Stakes, a seven-furlong test for sophomores on the Belmont Park Widener turf.

Trained by Chad Brown, the War Front  colt last raced in the Summer Stakes (G1T) in September over the Woodbine turf, where he defeated eventual Preakness Stakes (G1) winner War of Will by three-quarters of a length. Fog of War is 2-for-2, graduating at first asking over a good turf course at Saratoga Race Course in a race that featured eventual graded stakes winner Current.

Fog of War is out of the group 3-winning Galileo mare Say, whose dam, Riskaverse, was a graded stakes winner for four straight years and won back-to-back editions of the Flower Bowl Invitational Stakes (G1T) at Belmont in 2004-05.

Javier Castellano has the mount from post 2.

Stretching out in distance for War of Will's trainer, Mark Casse, is Strike Silver, who won the Indian Summer Stakes at Keeneland as a 2-year-old. Owned by John Oxley, the son of Violence  has never raced beyond six furlongs and was 11th last time out, beaten six lengths in the April 4 Palisades Turf Sprint Stakes at Keeneland.

Strike Silver is a winner on both dirt and turf. In his career debut, he broke his maiden over the main track at Churchill Downs in a race that featured eventual stakes-winning stablemate Sir Winston. He went on to finish second in the Sanford Stakes (G3) over the dirt at Saratoga before switching surfaces.

"I thought he was a nice horse on the dirt but thought the turf would move him up," Casse said. "I didn't feel he was as good as some of our other horses, so we gave him a shot on the turf. Last time at Keeneland, it seemed like he didn't really have running on his mind, but since then he's trained well. When you have a 3-year-old that's already won a stake, there aren't a whole lot of options, and sometimes you end up running in races that aren't exactly what you're looking for. I prefer to stay with straight 3-year-olds this time of year."

Irad Ortiz Jr. will pilot Strike Silver from the rail.

Also stretching out in distance following a close second in the William Walker Stakes at Churchill Downs is Lee and Cheryl Mauberret's Uncapped. 

Trained by Brendan Walsh, the chestnut homebred son of First Samurai  is in search of his first victory on grass but ran his three highest Equibase Speed Figures in his trio of starts on turf. He broke his maiden second time out over the main track at Churchill Downs in November. His past two starts took place against stakes company going 5 1/2 and five furlongs over the turf, including a last-out second in the William Walker.

"It won't be a problem for him," Walsh said of the added distance. "Five to 5 1/2 (furlongs) is a bit on the sharp side. In his last race, he missed the break, and if he broke better, he would have been right there. The extra distance should suit him fine."

Breaking from post 8, Uncapped will be ridden by Hall of Famer John Velazquez.

Entries: Paradise Creek S.

Belmont Park, Saturday, May 25, 2019, Race 9

• STK
• 7f
• Turf
• $100,000
• 3 yo
• 5:51 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Strike Silver (KY)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	121	Mark E. Casse	6/1
2	2Fog of War (KY)	Javier Castellano	123	Chad C. Brown	8/5
3	3Dunph (KY)	Kendrick Carmouche	121	Michael J. Maker	15/1
4	4Pole Setter (KY)	Luis Saez	117	Brad H. Cox	9/2
5	5Pulsate (KY)	Manuel Franco	117	Robert Ribaudo	10/1
6	6Ian Glass (KY)	Joel Rosario	117	Thomas Morley	15/1
7	7Mucho (KY)	Jose L. Ortiz	117	William I. Mott	3/1
8	8Uncapped (KY)	John R. Velazquez	115	Brendan P. Walsh	8/1