Sir Winston fights lack of pace

ELMONT, N.Y. – Of all the lost opportunities due to the COVID-19 pandemic, not being able to run Sir Winston in the $12 million Dubai World Cup in March is the one that stings the most for trainer Mark Casse.

“It was really a shame because I think he was at the top of his game in Dubai,” Casse said. “It didn’t happen. We’re going to go from there.”

Sir Winston, yet again, looks to start anew when he runs in Thursday’s $80,000 Flat Out Stakes going 1 3/8 miles at Belmont Park. It was just over a year ago, over this same oval, that Sir Winston pulled a 10-1 upset in the Belmont Stakes.

He has run just twice since – a last-place finish in a turf race at Fair Grounds on Dec. 28 and a win in a one-mile allowance at Aqueduct on Jan. 31. Thursday’s Flat Out could be a stepping-stone to the Grade 2, $200,000 Suburban here on July 4.

“We got to start somewhere,” Casse said.

While Sir Winston will hold a class edge in the Flat Out, he could be disadvantaged by the lack of pace in the field.

“Not much I can do about it,” Casse said. “We’re just looking for a good effort. I think he’ll give us one.”

It would appear that Moretti, one of three horses entered here for trainer Todd Pletcher, could play out as the primary speed going this far.

Moretti, a son of Medaglia d’Oro, is coming off an allowance win going 1 1/16 miles at Oaklawn Park. Pletcher also runs Legit and You’re to Blame, who finished second to Rocketry in the Temperence Hill Invitational at 1 5/8 miles in September 2018.

Rocketry, second to the Pletcher-trained Marconi in this race last year, makes his 6-year-old debut in the Flat Out with Jose Ortiz up.

Adventist was in good form before the pandemic halted racing on most of the East Coast. He overcame a slow pace to outfinish Blugrascat’s Smile in the $100,000 Bernardini Stakes going 1 5/16 miles at Aqueduct on Feb. 29. Adventist and Blugrascat’s Smile are both making their first start since then.

Trainer Uriah St. Lewis was looking to run Adventist back in the Excelsior at Aqueduct in early April, but that race was scrapped when Aqueduct’s spring meet was canceled.

St. Lewis, typically based at Parx, took 10 stalls at Belmont for this meet. Adventist worked a bullet half-mile in 48.40 seconds over the main track on June 3.

Adventist is another who could be compromised if there is no pace.

“You know he’s going to be last early and he’s going to make a run,” St Lewis said. “Hopefully, the course favors horses coming from any place because right now horses on the front end are doing all the damage. He will still show his best race anyway, and the distance suits him.”

St. Lewis has tabbed Manny Franco to ride. In 2018, Franco and St. Lewis teamed to pull off a 45-1 upset here in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup with Discreet Lover.

Prompt and Expert complete the field.