Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
O’Neill learns to lighten up
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Doug O’Neill said that when it comes to preparing for the Belmont Stakes, he will take a different approach with Blended Citizen than he did six years ago with I’ll Have Another, who was injured and scratched from the race one day before he was to make a bid for the Triple Crown.
I’ll Have Another put in strong daily 1 1/2-mile gallops after arriving in New York following the Preakness, and they apparently took their toll, as he was diagnosed with a tendon injury the day before the Belmont Stakes and was subsequently retired.
O’Neill said he will go lighter with Blended Citizen, who earned his way to the June 9 Belmont Stakes with a 1 1/2length victory over Core Beliefs in Saturday’s Grade 3, $350,000 Peter Pan Stakes here.
“We like to gallop and train on them pretty good, but when you’re talking the deep, sandy Belmont main track, one thing I’ll Have Another did teach us is don’t do that,” O’Neill said Sunday from California. “We are going to stay there, and if and when we go to the main track, he’ll have a lot of light training, not our standard twominute licking around there, and whatever results we get, we get.”
O’Neill noted that in the days leading up to the Peter Pan, Blended Citizen had gone to the training track, which is only one mile around compared with the 1 1/2-mile main track.
“It’s a little tighter; horses don’t wing around there,” O’Neill said.
O’Neill said he was told that Blended Citizen came out of the Peter Pan in good shape, and he has no doubt his horse will get the 1 1/2-mile distance of the “Test of the Champion.”
O’Neill said he is looking forward to the Belmont Stakes whether Kentucky Derby winner Justify wins the Preakness and comes into the race with a chance at the Triple Crown or not.
“The one who wins the Preakness, the one thing is we’ll have a little bit fresher legs,” O’Neill said. “The biggest thing is we’re enjoying the win from yesterday, he came out of it great, and we’re looking forward to those 12 furlongs come Belmont Day.”
Blended Citizen earned a career-best 90 Beyer Speed Figure for the Peter Pan victory.
Hi Happy likely for Manhattan
Hi Happy came out of his victory in Saturday’s Grade 1 Man o’ War in good order and likely will be pointed to the Grade 1, $1 million Manhattan Stakes on the June 9 Belmont Stakes card.
Hi Happy has run three times at three different distances for trainer Todd Pletcher, starting at 1 1/8 miles when he finished third to Heart to Heart in the Grade 1 Gulfstream Park Turf. He won the Pan American at 1 1/2 miles and the Man o’ War at 1 3/8 miles. The Manhattan is run at 1 1/4 miles.
“He’s versatile,” Pletcher said. “The fact he’s not pacedependent helps. A mile and a quarter is fine, a mile and three-eighths and a mile and an eighth are as well.”
While Pletcher is planning on the Manhattan, he said the Grade 1, $300,000 United Nations at Monmouth Park on June 30 could be a backup “if we need more time.”
Hi Happy earned a 104 Beyer in the Man o’ War.
Sadler’s Joy, second in the Man o’ War, also is likely to run back in the Manhattan, a race he finished third in last year.
A Raving Beauty flaunts speed
Trainer Chad Brown said Sunday he has no immediate plans for A Raving Beauty, the three-length winner of Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Beaugay Stakes at Belmont Park.
While Brown said he felt confident in A Raving Beauty entering the race, he was a bit surprised that the mare was no more than two lengths off the pace at any call. Given that, Brown said he may consider running A Raving Beauty in the Grade 1 Just a Game, a onemile race on the June 9 Belmont Stakes program.
“I was looking to run her a mile and a sixteenth and stretch her out,” Brown said. “With the early position she had and how sharp she was yesterday, I guess you can’t rule out coming back in the Just a Game.”
Brown has a deep roster of stakes fillies for grass. He is considering Off Limits for the Just a Game and Uni for either the Just a Game or, more likely, the Grade 1 Gamely on May 26 at Santa Anita. Brown is pointing Sistercharlie, winner of the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley, and Fourstar Crook to the Grade 2, $600,000 New York Stakes on June 8.
A Raving Beauty earned a 98 Beyer for the Beaugay.
Brown also ran second in the race with Inflexibility, who he felt was hampered by the condition of the turf course, which was less than firm after showers.
Westwood going for dough
Because he is a gelding, it’s all about finding the best spots to make some money for Westwood, who became a stakes winner Saturday when he took the $150,000 Runhappy by three-quarters of a length over Skyler’s Scramjet.
Westwood, by Bernardini and out of the champion mare Ashado, was gelded after his first start when he was sent to the farm with myriad issues.
Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said he will look at logical spots such as the Grade 2, $250,000 True North on June 8 and the Grade 2, $350,000 Belmont Sprint Championship here ;July 7. He said he also would enter Westwood for the main track only in turf-sprint stakes.
“I always thought with his pedigree, he should go farther,” McLaughlin said, “so I don’t know.”
Westwood earned a 99 Beyer in the Runhappy.