Five for Saratoga from Stars & Stripes weekend
Belmont Park offered the final multi-stakes program of the spring/summer meet on Saturday with the fifth edition of the Stars & Stripes Racing Festival. Last year’s winners of the event’s five graded races went on to play prominent roles in important summer and fall races, including at Saratoga. Chances are that most of the victors in this year’s Stars & Stripes will also turn up at the Spa between now and Labor Day.
Catholic Boy and Analyze It – As two-year- olds, Analyze It and Catholic Boy showed considerable promise. Analyze It was an impressive winner of his two starts, while Catholic Boy won three of four, including graded races on both turf and dirt. Meeting for the second time in Saturday’s $1.2 million Belmont Derby Invitational on turf, the two sophomores staged a stretch duel that was the highlight of the day’s card. After surrendering the lead to Analyze It in mid-stretch, Catholic Boy came on again nearing the wire
to prevail by a neck. The result was a replay of last month’s Pennine Ridge Stakes in which Catholic Boy also rallied late to best Analyze It by the same margin.
Owner Robert LaPenta indicated that Catholic Boy may return to dirt for a start in the $1.25 Travers on Aug. 25. As for Analyze It, turf options at Saratoga begin with the Hall of Fame Stakes on Aug. 3.
Diversify – When Diversify won last year’s Jockey Club Gold Cup in his first start in a graded stakes, there were probably those who questioned whether he was a true mile-and-a- quarter horse. The New York-bred son of Bellamy Road responded to his doubters Saturday when – facing a large, eclectic field in the 1¼-mile Suburban Stakes – the five-year- old gelding went gate to wire in a swift 1:59.84. The margin of victory was 6½ lengths. Defeated horses included 2017 Belmont winner Tapwrit; California invaders Dr. Dorr and The Lieutenant; and the venerable war horses Hopportunity
and War Story.
Given its $1.2 million purse and the likelihood of a less-than-formidable field, the Whitney (Aug. 4) reportedly could be the next start for Diversify.
Limousine Liberal – Whitmore and Limousine Liberal have earned reputations as game, consistent horses who have tangled with some of the country’s best sprinters over the past several years. On Saturday, the two geldings were dispatched as the top two choices in the Belmont Sprint Championship, with Limousine Liberal the narrow favorite at 9-5.
It was a roughly run race, with several horses impacted by a crowding incident on the turn. When the dust cleared, it was Limousine Liberal who had the most late run, wearing down Whitmore in the final strides to get up by a neck. The time for seven furlongs was a sharp 1:21.53.
Limousine Liberal reportedly will be pointed to the Forego Stakes on Aug. 25, a race in which he ran seventh in 2016. In two other Grade 1 starts at Saratoga, the son of Successful Appeal was runner-up in the 2015 King’s Bishop (now the H. Allen Jerkens Memorial) and third in last summer’s A. G. Vanderbilt.
Firenze Fire – Saturday’s one-mile Dwyer Stakes was an opportunity for a trio of horses who had disappointed in the Kentucky Derby to restart their three-year- old seasons: Firenze Fire was 11th in the Derby, Noble Indy was 17th and Mendelssohn finished 20th and last.
After stalking Noble Indy for the first halfmile, favored Mendelssohn (3-2) took over on the turn. He was passed in turn by Firenze Fire, whose wide, sweeping move brought him to the front at the quarter-pole. Firenze Fire quickly distanced himself from the rest of the field, extending his lead to four lengths at the eighth-pole and nine at the wire. Mendelssohn finished third; Noble Indy was last of seven. The running time for the mile was 1:33.74.
Firenze Fire is expected to remain in one-turn races, with a projected next start in the H. Allen Jerkens Memorial at Saratoga on Aug. 25.