Stone Age, Nations Pride, Concert Hall and With The Moonlight are among European three-year-olds chasing Grade 1 glory at Belmont on Saturday evening.
10 fillies have been declared for the Belmont Oaks which is due off at 21:06 UK time on Saturday evening.
Aidan O’Brien and Ryan Moore have teamed up successfully twice in this mile and a quarter contest in recent seasons, winning it with Athena in 2018 and Santa Barbara last year, both of whom had been placed in the Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh on their previous starts.
Their representative in this year’s race Concert Hall is treading a well-worn path, therefore, as she too contested the Pretty Polly just two weekends ago. She ran creditably, passing the post in fifth (placed fourth on a technicality) and faring best of the three-year-olds in the field behind La Petite Coco. But even allowing for the fact she met some trouble in running, Concert Hall stayed on when the race was all but over which suggests she may well prove vulnerable again to speedier types over the same trip here. She’d looked more at home over the Oaks distance at Epsom the time before when a staying-on fourth to stable companion Tuesday.
In contrast, Charlie Appleby’s runner With The Moonlight, ridden by Frankie Dettori, promises to be much better suited by the drop in trip here after racing too freely in the Oaks and dropping out to finish last. There was probably more to that run than simply lack of stamina but a return to the sort of form which had won her the Pretty Polly Stakes – the Newmarket version – so decisively in May would make her an interesting runner here.
Joseph O’Brien is represented by the consistent Agartha who steps up from a mile for the first time. She has twice run well behind the exciting Homeless Songs in Ireland this season, finishing runner-up to her in a Group 3 contest at Leopardstown in April and running fifth behind her when she was so impressive in the Irish 1000 Guineas last time. A confirmed front runner, Agartha is exposed as a miler but looks at least worth a try upped in trip as her dam was a useful winner up to a mile and three quarters.
The two other Europeans in the line-up, French-trained fillies Know Thyself and Hot Queen, face stiffer tasks for Pia & Joakim Brandt and Francis-Henri Graffard respectively and there’s little between them judged on their placed efforts in an earlier meeting in the Group 3 Prix Vanteaux at Longchamp over nine furlongs.
The one they all have to beat, though, is NEW YEAR’S EVE who looks the pick on form for Brendan Walsh after her smart effort at Churchill Downs last time when winning the Grade 2 Edgewood Stakes from the re-opposing McKulick. The latter is one of three representing Chad Brown who is respected on his fine record in this contest, though his best chance looks to be with Consumer Spending, a Grade 2 winner in the Wonder Again Stakes over nine furlongs at this track last month.
Later on the card, 13 colts are due to contest the Belmont Derby at 22:12 UK time.
O’Brien and Appleby face off again here, and their respective colts STONE AGE and Nations Pride could easily be fighting out the finish. Neither came up to expectations in the Derby last time, when they finished sixth and eighth respectively behind Desert Crown, but their earlier form should make them more competitive back down in trip here.
Stone Age travelled well at Epsom but possibly paid late on for being close to the pace. He made a big impression beforehand when winning the Derby Trial at Leopardstown in decisive fashion from the front when the subsequent Irish Derby third French Claim was among his victims. Ballydoyle won this last year with Bolshoi Ballet, he too successful in the Leopardstown trial and bouncing back from disappointing at Epsom.
Nations Pride is also worth another chance after underperforming at Epsom where he might not have been suited by the track. He’d certainly looked promising beforehand, completing a four-timer when trouncing the future Derby runner-up Hoo Ya Mal by seven lengths in a Listed race at Newmarket.
Another Epsom also-ran bidding to do better here is Royal Patronage for Charlie & Mark Johnston. He beat only one home in the Derby, when beaten before stamina came into play, and will need to find some improvement here for all that he chased home Desert Crown in the Dante at York beforehand.
As in the Oaks earlier on the card, the French candidates face stiffer tasks. Implementation has only a maiden win to his name for the Brandt stable and was last of four in a Group 3 at Chantilly last time, while Listed winner Machete wasn’t discredited in seventh behind Vadeni in the Prix du Jockey Club at the same track last time for Fabrice Chappet.
Of the American colts in the line-up, both Stolen Base and Emmanuel were Grade 2 winners on turf last time over slightly shorter trips. However, the Kenny McPeek pair Classic Causeway and Tiz The Bomb would hold place chances if translating the pick of their dirt form to turf. As a son of Giant’s Causeway, Classic Causeway has the pedigree to make that transition, while Tiz The Bomb has a good run on the grass to his name already when runner-up to Nations Pride’s stable companion Modern Games in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar after encountering traffic problems in the straight.
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