Green point crusader steps up

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla.–Green point crusader was a Grade 1 winner at 2, and he will take another step back toward that level as the favorite to defeat seven rivals in Saturday’s Grade 3 Fred Hooper Stakes at Gulfstream Park.

Green point crusader ,4, became a Grade 1 winner in just his third start, rallying from well back to a 4 1/2-length victory going a mile over a sloppy track in the Champagne at Belmont. That performance was strong enough to make Green point crusader the 7-2 favorite four weeks later in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Keeneland, where he rallied to finish seventh behind eventual Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist.

Green point crusader launched his 3-year-old campaign with a strong second-place finish behind Mohaymen in the Grade 2 Holy Bull here before his season came to an abrupt halt following a disappointing seventh-place effort in the Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds. He was ultimately transferred from trainer Dominick Schettino to Todd Pletcher’s barn and made a triumphant return here Jan. 27 with a 2 3/4-length optionalclaiming win at a mile.

Pletcher said the one-mile distance of the Hooper suits Green point crusader.

“This race seemed like the logical place to come back after winning here going a mile and having won the Champagne at a mile as a 2-year-old, although I wouldn’t classify him as strictly a miler,” said Pletcher. “It’s just the right move for this time of the year.”

Green point crusader will break from the outside with John Velazquez aboard.

“He’s doing well, and I like the post,” said Pletcher.

Bird Song, Realm, and War Story also are top contenders. Bird Song and Realm finished second and third behind the Pletcher-trained Tommy Macho in the Grade 3 Hal’s Hope earlier in the meet. War Story won the Queens County at Aqueduct by 7 3/4 lengths in his 2016 finale and kicked off the current campaign by finishing a distant fifth in the inaugural Pegasus World Cup.

Bird Song continues to improve and seems at his best going a mile. A son of Unbridled’s Song, he earned a careerhigh Beyer Speed Figure of 99 in closing out his 3-yearold campaign by winning an optional-claiming race at Churchill Downs in November.

Realm finished third behind Connect in the Grade 1 Cigar Mile. In the Hal’s Hope, he got within striking distance of the leaders near midstretch but could not sustain the bid, lugging in and finishing on his left lead.

War Story finished fourth, a neck behind Realm, in the Cigar Mile before breaking through with easily his best effort in the 1 1/8-mile Queens County.

Mr. Jordan had his two-race winning streak halted when finishing seventh in the Hal’s Hope. Mr. Jordan capped his 2016 season with a 3 3/4-length triumph at Gulfstream Park West in the Sunshine Millions Classic Preview.

Hy Riverside, Tale of S’avall, and Frammento complete the field.