Broadway Run Brings Consistent Form to Intercontinental

The Belmont Stakes Racing Festival kicks off June 6 with three feature races—the $200,000 Intercontinental Stakes (G3T), $200,000 Wonder Again Stakes (G3T), and $150,000 Astoria Stakes—for fillies and mares at Belmont Park. 

Curragh Stables' Broadway Run will attempt to make the grade in Thursday's Intercontinental after two narrow losses. Nine others are entered (one for the main track only) in the seven-furlong turf event for fillies and mares 4 and up. Broadway Run brings a consistent form from a seven-race career in which she has never finished off the board. 

"She's doing great, and I don't think the seven-eighths will be an issue," trainer John Terranova said. "She has speed, but she can sit off if she needs to. She's really just a smart filly and very crafty. Hopefully, we'll get some good weather finally."

The Florida-bred 4-year-old Prospective  filly was a debut winner in May 2018 and captured the Coronation Cup Stakes at 5 1/2 furlongs on Satatoga Race Course's turf last summer. Broadway Run wrapped up her sophomore campaign with a neck loss in the seven-furlong FTBOA City of Ocala Florida Sire Stakes on a sloppy main track Dec. 15 at Tampa Bay Downs. She returned April 28 at Belmont and lost by a nose on a yielding turf course in the License Fee Stakes at six furlongs. The Intercontinental is her first try at graded company.

"We really liked her going into the last race, and she didn't get away from the gate too well," Terranova said. "The turf was on the soft side; she tolerates it, but it's not her best surface. She prefers a little firmer ground, which hopefully she'll get this week. I think that would have made the difference. She lost in a photo to that really nice mare in Fire Key."

Backwards Stable's multiple stakes winner Fire Key, who led every step of the License Fee, also returns in the Intercontinental. This will be her second start for trainer James Ryerson as she searches for her first win past six furlongs. 

Chad Brown entered a three-horse contingent with Stephanie Seymour Brant's Significant Form, a grade 3 winner around two turns on Belmont's turf at 2 who was off the board her last three starts of 2018; Martin Schwartz's Zonza, a group 3 winner in France making her second start in the United States; and Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb, Kent Spellman, and Bethlehem Stables' Stella di Camelot, winner of the Pebbles Stakes on a soft course during Belmont's fall meet in her first of two stateside starts.

Leading the 3-year-old fillies in the Wonder Again Stakes is Klaravich Stables' Newspaperofrecord, who suffered her first defeat in the Edgewood Stakes Presented by Forcht Bank (G3T) May 3 at Churchill Downs after setting the early pace. 

The Lope de Vega filly, another Brown trainee, won all three starts her juvenile season, including the Nov. 2 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T), by a combined 20 lengths. She was bested by Concrete Rose by 3 3/4 lengths in the Edgewood, her first race since the Breeders' Cup.

"I think I had her a little short, but she seems to be good now," Brown said. "She's fit and ready to go."

Among the other five entries (one main track only) for the 1 1/8-mile test are OXO Equine's Cambier Parc, also trained by Brown, and Debby Oxley's Chocolate Kisses from the Mark Casse stable.

Cambier Parc, by Medaglia d'Oro , was a $1.25 million Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase from the Gainesway consignment. She won the Herecomesthebride Stakes (G3T) March 2 at Gulfstream Park and was fourth in the Edgewood.

Chocolate Kisses is a winner on both turf and dirt. She scored in the Honeybee Stakes March 9 at Oaklawn Park and returns to the grass after off-the-board finishes in the Central Bank Ashland Stakes (G1) April 6 at Keeneland and the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) May 3.

Nine juvenile fillies are lined up to contest the 5 1/2-furlong Astoria on Belmont's main track, including impressive debut winners Perfect Alibi and Sneaky Surprise. 

Tracy Farmer's Perfect Alibi was a 9 1/2-length winner May 16 at Churchill Downs for Casse. The Sky Mesa  filly ranged up from fourth and drew away to complete five furlongs in :58.82. Perfect Alibi was a $220,000 purchase from Denali Stud's consignment to The Saratoga Sale, Fasig-Tipton's selected yearling sale in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. 

Trainer Todd Pletcher sends out Repole Stable homebred Sneaky Surprise, bred in New York and sired by Giant Surprise . She overcame a stumble in her May 9 debut at Belmont to grab the lead early and win by 4 1/4 lengths. Sneaky Surprise went five furlongs in :58.89.

Entries: Wonder Again S. (G3T)

Belmont Park, Thursday, June 06, 2019, Race 3

• Grade III
• 1 1/8m
• Inner turf
• $200,000
• 3 yo Fillies
• 4:07 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Kelsey's Cross (FL)	Mike E. Smith	115	Patrick L. Biancone	12/1
2	2Nonsensical (KY)	Joe Bravo	115	Thomas Albertrani	2/1
3	3Newspaperofrecord (IRE)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	123	Chad C. Brown	1/5
4	4Cambier Parc (KY)	Jose L. Ortiz	121	Chad C. Brown	7/2
5	5Chocolate Kisses (KY)	Dylan Davis	121	Mark E. Casse	8/1
6	6Blonde Moment (IN)	Hector Rafael Diaz, Jr.	115	Dermot Magner	30/1