Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Top sprinters get a rematch
ELMONT, N.Y. – Mind Your Biscuits, the winner of the Group 1 Dubai Golden Shaheen in March, and Unified, who beat Mind Your Biscuits in the Grade 3 Gulfstream Park Sprint Championship in February, head a seven-horse field entered for Saturday’s Grade 2, $350,000 Belmont Sprint Championship.
The Belmont Sprint Championship, run at seven furlongs, is a Win and You’re In race for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, run at six furlongs on Nov. 4 at Del Mar.
Trainer Chad Summers has targeted the Belmont Sprint Championship for Mind Your Biscuits since the horse’s Dubai victory. Mind Your Biscuits was given a month off from training but has had several sharp workouts leading up to this race.
“This time, we want to make sure we’re not a neck short, we’re a neck ahead,” said Summers, referring to Mind Your Biscuits’s margin of defeat to Unified in the Gulfstream Sprint at 6 1/2 furlongs.
Mind Your Biscuits drew post 2 and will be ridden by Joel Rosario.
Unified was beaten a neck by Green Gratto in the Grade 1 Carter at Aqueduct in April. Green Gratto used the inside post to his benefit that day, while Unified conceded the lead from his outside draw. On Saturday, Green Gratto is in post 6 and Unified in post 7.
In a work that suggests that Unified could be headed to the lead on Saturday, trainer Jimmy Jerkens blew the colt out three furlongs in 35.02 seconds Wednesday over the Belmont training track. Last week, Unified worked a strong five furlongs in 1:00.27 over the main track.
Irad Ortiz Jr. is on Green Gratto, while Jose Ortiz rides Unified. Stallwalkin’ Dude drew the rail, and outside of Mind Your Biscuits and inside of Green Gratto are Fellowship, Tommy Macho, and Awesome Slew.
Matt King Coal long gone?
Seymourdini forged a blitzkrieg on the front end in winning Monday’s State Dinner Stakes by 10 1/2 lengths. His trainer, Linda Rice, likely will try the same tactics with Matt King Coal in Saturday’s Grade 2, $750,000 Suburban Stakes at Belmont Park.
Matt King Coal looms the lone speed on paper in a sixhorse field entered Tuesday for the Suburban at 1 1/4 miles.
“That’s what I want to be,” Rice said. “He’s really coming to hand. That’s a huge step up in competition to go against a Shaman Ghost, but I’d rather do it at a mile and a quarter.”
Matt King Coal, a son of Cool Coal Man, is coming off a 3 3/4-length front-running victory in the Mountainview Stakes at Penn National. Matt King Coal drew post 2 and will be ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr.
Shaman Ghost, the winner of the Santa Anita Handicap and Pimlico Special in his last two starts, drew post 6.
Keen Ice, the 2015 Travers winner, drew the rail. Sunny Ridge (post 3), Watershed (post 4), and Follow Me Crev (post 5) complete the field.
Meanwhile, Rice said she is not sure what will be next with Seymourdini, who earned a 113 Beyer Speed Figure for his State Dinner victory. The longterm goal is the Grade 1 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct on Dec. 2.
Dwyer suits Practical Joke
Practical Joke, the fifthplace finisher in the Kentucky Derby, and Battalion Runner, the runner-up in the Wood Memorial, return to the races in Saturday’s Grade 3, $400,000 Dwyer Stakes going a one-turn mile at Belmont Park.
Last October, Practical Joke won the Grade 1 Champagne going a one-turn mile at Belmont. He is winless in four starts since, but those races were run around two turns. He is 3 for 3 in one-turn races. Practical Joke drew post 3.
Battalion Runner won a seven-furlong maiden race around one turn at Gulfstream Park before winning a firstlevel allowance race going two turns there in March. Following a second to Irish War Cry in the Wood Memorial, Battalion Runner was held out of the Kentucky Derby after a subpar workout.
Giuseppe the Great, the runner-up in the Grade 2 Woody Stephens, True Timber, and Tale of Silence complete the compact field.
◗ The Dwyer, Belmont Sprint, and Belmont Oaks will be shown live on NBC Sports Network in a 90-minute telecast starting at 4:30 p.m. Eastern. The Suburban and Belmont Derby will be shown live during a one-hour broadcast beginning at 6 p.m. on MSG Plus, Fox Sports 2, and other regional networks that typically carry Belmont Park.