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Can the undefeated Dugout stay a mile? That appears to be the key question in assessing the $250,000 Sleepy Hollow Stakes for New York-bred 2-year-olds Saturday at Belmont Park.

Apparently, there are plenty of trainers who feel the answer is no, since a field of 16 juveniles, including two also-eligibles, has been entered to face Dugout, who has won all three career starts. That win streak includes two stakes tallies – the 6 1/2-furlong Funny Cide at Saratoga and the six-furlong New York Breeders’ Futurity last month at Finger Lakes.

But the man who should know best, trainer Larry Rivelli, firmly believes Dugout will have no problem handling a mile.

“I’m pretty confident he can get the distance,” said Rivelli, who also bred Dugout in partnership with owner Richard Ravin.

“None of the horses I’ve had out of that mare have won over a mile. But I think he’s in a little different category of horse than they were. And one turn obviously makes a little bit of a difference, too.”

Rivelli said he considered running Dugout in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint before opting to keep him with statebreds one more time.

“We bred and own him, too, which means it’s a triple-dip for us if he wins,” Rivelli said. “He drew well, in post 6, and from there I think he’ll be in front or he can sit off Bankit if he decides he wants to go, just like we did in the Funny Cide. Either way, I think it’s his [Dugout’s] race to lose.”

Trainer Todd Pletcher admitted he, for one, is hoping the added distance will be an advantage when he sends out La Fuerza and Just Right in the Sleepy Hollow.

La Fuerza has futilely chased Dugout on two previous occasions, when finishing fifth as the 6-5 favorite in the Funny Cide and taking third in the New York Breeders’ Futurity. Just Right is coming off a very disappointing last-place finish making his stakes debut in the B.F. Bongard following a well-graded maiden tally at seven furlongs in his Saratoga finale.

“I always thought La Fuerza would appreciate more distance and I’m looking forward to our first opportunity to stretch him out beyond 6 1/2 furlongs,” Pletcher said.

“Just Right didn’t fire at all last time, and he seems to be a horse who is a little more comfortable on the lead, so that’s our goal with him in here. It looks like a very competitive race with a much bigger field than I’d expected. We’ll need a favorable pace setup, and hopefully the added distance will equalize things between us and Dugout this time around.”

Bankit was beaten a nose by Dugout after a race-long pace duel in the Funny Cide, but like Just Right, Bankit also regressed in the Bongard on Sept. 21.

Poppy’s Ice, second best behind runaway winner Frosted Ice in the Bongard, is one of three other stakes-placed New York-breds in the lineup, along with Bustin to be Loved and Bustin Hoffman, both of whom are poorly drawn in posts 13 and 14 respectively.

Large field for Maid of the Mist

The Sleepy Hollow’s filly counterpart, the $250,000 Maid of the Mist, also lured a large and extremely well-matched field of 12 led by Cartwheelin Lulu, a wire-to-wire winner of both previous starts, including the seven-furlong Joseph A Gimma Stakes at Belmont on Sept.19. She will be joined in the gate by stablemate L.A. Page, who rallied from far back to win her maiden at first asking for trainer Jeremiah Englehart.

“Talking to Johnny [Velazquez], I thought she would stretch off that last race, it seemed like she would go farther,” Englehart said of Cartwheelin Lulu. “And I’m not sure she’s a need-the-lead type. As for L.A. Page, you don’t usually see 2-year-olds make that kind of run first time out, which is the main reason I decided to run her, too. It’s ambitious, but at the same time we could have something special there with her.”

Cartwheelin Lulu could face pace pressure in the one-mile Maid of the Mist with Saide Lady, Time Warp, and Elegant Zip. Time Warp is the only member of the prospective starting lineup to have already gone a mile, finishing fifth after vying for command to midstretch of an optional-claiming race at Keeneland just 10 days ago.

A contested pace should put a smile on the face of trainer Linda Rice, who entered a trio of fillies – She’s Trouble, Surge of Pride, and the maiden Galadriel’s Light, all of whom would appear to do their best running at the end.

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ELMONT, N.Y. – Diversify has shut it down for the year. Mind Your Biscuits is in Kentucky gearing up for a Breeders’ Cup race.

While the stars of the New York breeding program may be absent, several capable understudies are left to put on the show on Saturday’s Empire Showcase Day, a card of 11 races restricted to New York-breds at Belmont Park. The richest of eight stakes is the $300,000 Empire Classic, led by Pat On the Back, who came within a nose of upsetting Diversify in the Commentator Stakes here in May.

Pat On the Back could be favored in a field of 11 set to contest 1 1/8 miles in the Classic, race 10 on a card that begins at 12:30 p.m. Eastern.

Pat On the Back, trained by Jeremiah Englehart, has run five times this year but never at the same distance. After beginning his year with a sixth-place finish in the mud in the seven-furlong Say Florida Sandy at Aqueduct, Pat On the Back has a win and three seconds, with those losses coming by a combined one length.

The win came in the Saginaw, a race run at 1 1/16 miles around one turn, perhaps the closest configuration to the Classic that Pat On the Back has seen recently. Last out, Pat On the Back was beaten a neck by Can You Diggit in the Evan Shipman going 1 1/8 miles around two turns at Saratoga.

“I think he might be a little better at the one-turn longer race,” Englehart said. “The two turns, mile and an eighth might stretch out his run just a little bit where it might not be as effective.”

Pat On the Back does not show a work since Oct. 6. Englehart said Pat On the Back got loose one morning at Belmont, and that ultimately served as his last workout for this race.

Drawn in post 10 of 11, Pat On the Back figures to stalk in a field seemingly loaded with speed.

The three other off-the-pace threats in the Empire Classic are Can You Diggit, Calculated Risker, and Evaluator.

Evaluator is one of two 3-year-olds entered. He finished second behind Sea Foam – also entered in here – in the Albany Stakes last out. Trainer Mike Dilger noted that one of Evaluator’s best races came on this card last year, when he won the one-turn-mile Sleepy Hollow Stakes.

“An extra furlong shouldn’t hurt too much,” Dilger said. “With his style, coming from behind, it’s probably a little easier in a one-turn race than a two-turn race.”

The speed figures to come from Control Group, Mr. Buff, and Sea Foam.

Twisted Tom, who won this race last year, is back with a new trainer, Mike Stidham.

Fleet Indian trio in Distaff

English Soul, Take Charge Aubrey, and Split Time put on quite a show when heads apart in a blanket finish of the $200,000 Fleet Indian Stakes on Aug. 24 at Saratoga. That trio of 3-year-olds headlines the $250,000 Empire Distaff, contested at 1 1/16 miles.

English Soul overcame the outside post and a seven-pound weight concession to beat Take Charge Aubrey in the Fleet Indian.

“This time, she’s going to have to show a little bit of a different dimension,” trainer Ray Handal said. “There’s going to be a bunch of horses that are going to go – they probably won’t go terribly quick – but she’s probably going to have to sit off and make a run. I have a lot of faith in her. I think she’s better than her figures have shown. She has a lot of heart, and she’s training as good as she’s ever trained in her life.”

Take Charge Aubrey came out the Fleet Indian to win a New York-bred second-level allowance race going 1 1/16 miles.

“I ran her twice in 11 days at Saratoga. I backed off her and breezed her once, and she really ran good without a whole lot of training,” trainer Bruce Levine said. “I like the one turn.”

With Jose Ortiz riding at Keeneland, Javier Castellano has picked up the mount on Take Charge Aubrey.

Hay Field has won five of her last six starts for Englehart, but all of those races were sprints. Englehart has said he’s always wanted to run Hay Field long, noting that her sire, Haynesfield, won two editions of the Empire Classic.

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ELMONT, N.Y. – They have taken turns beating each other in the New York-bred male turf division all year long with different winners in each of the three traditional stakes run on this circuit. While those three horses – Black Tide, Offering Plan, and Kharafa – are all entered in Saturday’s $200,000 Mohawk Stakes at Belmont Park, perhaps it will be somebody else’s turn to visit the winner’s circle.

Rapt was second to Offering Plan in the Kingston, third behind Kharafa and Offering Plan in the West Point, and a better-than-it-looks eighth to Black Tide in the Ashley T. Cole. Rapt is a closer who, with a clear run, has license to surprise at a price for trainer Robert Ribaudo.

In the Cole, Rapt, who was able to save ground despite breaking from the extreme outside in the 11-horse field, was making his typical late run under Manny Franco when Tapitation came out on him in midstretch. Ribaudo said Rapt gets intimidated when he’s between horses and didn’t finish as well as he could have, yet was only beaten 2 1/2 lengths.

“He lost his momentum,” Ribaudo said. “He was making a nice run. Not to get a check there was disappointing. Manny knows him better, and he needs to make that move on the outside.”

Rapt will break from the inside in the Mohawk.

Rapt finished third behind Black Tide and Offering Plan in this race last year. Black Tide and Offering Plan finished 1-2 in the Cole last month with Black Tide, as he always does, running off to a huge advantage while holding the late-running Offering Plan at bay late.

Though 11 were entered in the Mohawk, only eight were entered to run on turf. Black Tide will again try to take this field gate to wire. Trainer David Cannizzo said he’s confident the 6-year-old gelding will be able to do just that under Jose Lezcano.

“He came out of the other race great, he’s doing very good going into this,” Cannizzo said. “I know it’s back on short rest, but he’s ready to fire.”

Offering Plan rarely fails to fire. He won the Kingston over this same group in May and was a good second in each of the last two races in the division. He will break from the outside under Javier Castellano as the co-highweight at 123 pounds with Kharafa.

Kharafa won this race in 2014 and was beaten a head in 2015. In the Cole, he finished sixth, beaten two lengths for all the money, and a nose behind Red Knight who is back in this spot.

La Moneda tops Ticonderoga

Trainer Tom Morley spoke with glee as the wind whipped through the Belmont Park backstretch Thursday morning. Morley is hoping the wind can help dry out what has been a good-to-yielding turf course throughout the first five weeks of the Belmont fall meet.

Morley sends out La Moneda as the likely favorite in the $200,000 Ticonderoga Stakes for New York-bred females and said he would like to see the turf “as firm as possible on Saturday.”

La Moneda brings a four-race winning streak into the Ticonderoga, her most recent win being a neck decision over Lady Joan in the Yaddo on Aug. 24 at Saratoga. Though the course was listed as firm that day, Morley said “it was a drying out, tacky track that day. I do believe she’s better on a firm surface.”

What Morley liked most about La Moneda’s performance that day was she was able to win a close decision.

“She really had to dig deep to run down [Lady Joan] and hold off [Fifty Five] as well,” Morley said. “I know that fight’s in there if she needs it, and I’m sure she’ll need it on Saturday.”

Morley said he kept La Moneda out of last month’s John Hettinger Stakes due to her having run four times from June 9 through Aug. 24.

Fifty Five won the Hettinger as the 4-5 favorite, and she is the main threat to La Moneda. Fifty Five, trained by Chad Brown, won the Ticonderoga last year and lost the Mount Vernon and Yaddo stakes by a neck.

Lady Joan suffered a tough neck loss to La Moneda in the Yaddo and then came back to finish third behind Fifty Five and Munchkin Money in the Hettinger.

“She ran three times at Saratoga and ran her eyeballs out in the Yaddo then came back a little quick [in the Hettinger], and I still thought ran a good race,” trainer Phil Serpe said. “She’s moved forward going into this race, she’s going to need to do that to beat those two fillies.”

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ELMONT, N.Y. – In 2016, Runaway Lute won his first two starts like he was going to be the next poster boy for the New York-bred program. Things fell apart shortly thereafter for the son of Midnight Lute, who would go two years before winning again.

But his last win was an eye-opener. And if he’s able to run that race back, he’ll be tough to handle in Saturday’s $150,000 Hudson Handicap at Belmont Park. The Hudson, run at 6 1/2 furlongs, drew a field of nine, though Syndergaard ran in an allowance race here Thursday and will scratch from this spot.

Runaway Lute won his first two starts – including the Rockville Centre Stakes – by a combined 20 3/4 lengths in 2016. He went winless in five starts at 3, wrenching an ankle in an Aqueduct allowance last November. He returned to the races in June, finishing third in a second-level allowance before clearing that condition by 4 1/4 lengths on July 4. He ran seven furlongs that day in 1:21.39 earning a 103 Beyer Speed Figure.

At Saratoga, he was entered to run in the John Morrissey Stakes on July 26, but was scratched after flipping in the paddock. He stepped on himself during a July 30 work and missed the Saratoga meet.

Three of his last four workouts are bullets entering the Hudson, and trainer Gary Contessa loves the outside post draw for Runaway Lute.

“The outside post is really to his advantage,” said Contessa, who is having an excellent meet with 15 wins from 60 starters through Thursday’s 28th card of the meet. “He doesn’t like standing in the gate for a long period of time. He can just load and go.”

Runaway Lute, who will be reunited with Javier Castellano – aboard for those first two wins – will likely stalk the speed of Eye Luv Lulu, Gold for the King, and potentially My Boy Tate. My Boy Tate had a five-race winning streak snapped when he ran second in the Tale of the Cat Stakes in August. He then disappointed when fourth of five in an open-company allowance race Sept. 16. My Boy Tate gets the services of John Velazquez for the first time.

The Caretaker, who won just once in his first 14 starts, brings a three-race winning streak into the Hudson, his stakes debut.

Long Haul Bay, the Grade 3 Bay Shore winner in 2017, and Celtic Chaos, a multiple statebred stakes winner, would both benefit from a contested pace.

Holiday Disguise heads Iroquois

Trainer Linda Rice admits it might have been a big ask to bring Holiday Disguise back off a three-month layoff in the Grade 2 Gallant Bloom Handicap last month at Belmont Park. So, she wasn’t discouraged when the filly finished fifth, three lengths behind Union Strike.

“She had kind of a wide trip, got beat three lengths,” Rice said. “I thought it was a good effort off the layoff and should help us going forward.”

Saturday, Holiday Disguise looks to go forward when she drops back in with New York-breds and meets nine opponents in the $150,000 Iroquois Stakes for female sprinters at 6 1/2 furlongs.

Holiday Disguise is a four-time stakes winner, including a victory in the Grade 3 Distaff Handicap at Aqueduct in April. Holiday Disguise ran three times in five weeks at Belmont this spring, winning the Critical Eye by a nose over Highway Star, one of her main rivals Saturday.

Satisfy could be the up-and-comer in the New York-bred female sprint ranks. She has won 4 of 5 starts, including her last three. She beat open-company allowance horses by 2 1/4 lengths here Oct. 6 and is running back in two weeks.

“That was a big race the other day,” trainer Bill Mott said. “She was in between horses and just shoved her way through. It’s a little risky running her back that quick, but what do you do with her? If you got in an open two-other-than, it’s going to be a competitive race.”

Pauseforthecause has won two straight allowance races, both since having undergone a throat procedure.

“The [rail] is not great for us, but hopefully we can work out a trip,” trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said.

I Still Miss You has won her last three, all at Finger Lakes, and returns to Belmont where as a 2-year-old she won her first two starts, including the Astoria Stakes.

Picco Uno, Filibustin, Palladian Bridge, Royal Inheritance, and Frosty Margarita complete the field.

This story originally appeared on DRF.com. 

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ELMONT, N.Y. – Catholic Boy, who missed a workout last weekend due to a temperature, got back on schedule for the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Sunday morning by working a sharp five furlongs in 1:01.08 over the Belmont Park main track.

With regular rider Javier Castellano aboard, Catholic Boy worked in company with the graded stakes winner March. Catholic Boy started about two lengths behind, was within three-quarters of a length of March after an opening eighth in 12.70 seconds. Catholic Boy was actually in front of March approaching the quarter pole before Castellano allowed March to come through his inside and gain a narrow advantage.

Catholic Boy, with Castellano still not asking, had a head in front coming to the wire, getting a final quarter in 24.48 seconds. After the wire, Castellano did ask Catholic Boy a little bit and the horse responded with a six-furlong gallop-out in 1:13.59 seconds and seven furlongs in 1:26.53.

“I thought it was a really well-executed work by Javier,” trainer Jonathan Thomas said. “I wanted him to sit right off March’s hip, relax, then by the quarter really join in and then hit the wire in front and go ahead and gallop-out. I thought it was good.”

This was Catholic Boy’s third work since he won the Travers on Aug. 26. He missed a scheduled work last weekend due to a temperature.

“When you’re preparing for the Breeders’ Cup, you don’t want anything to go wrong, but I don’t know that it cost us anything,” Thomas said. “I was happy seeing that breeze today. This will move him up quite a lot going into his next breeze.”

That next breeze will take place next weekend at Churchill Downs, Thomas said.

Thomas plans to van Catholic Boy to Churchill Downs on Tuesday with the horse expected to arrive early Wednesday morning. He should be able to get two works over Churchill’s main track before the Nov. 3 Classic.

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ELMONT, N.Y. – Due to the spate of wet weather that has taken its toll on Belmont Park’s turf courses this fall, the New York Racing Association canceled turf works scheduled for Sunday. That forced trainer Chad Brown to make some adjustments when it came to preparing horses for their upcoming Breeders’ Cup engagements.

Brown sent expected Breeders’ Cup starters Sistercharlie, Robert Bruce and Newspaperofrecord out over Belmont Park’s main track for workouts Sunday morning.

Sistercharlie, the three-time Grade 1-winning turf filly, worked a half-mile in 48.56 seconds in preparation for the Filly and Mare Turf.

Sistercharlie worked on the outside of Uni, who has won all three of her starts this year and is pointing to the Matriarch at Del Mar on Dec. 2. The team went their first quarter in 24.57 seconds and got their second quarter in 23.99. They galloped out five furlongs in 1:01.57.

Sistercharlie hasn’t run since winning the Grade 1 Beverly D. on Aug. 11. Brown missed a little time with her due to a bruised foot, but this is her third work since she missed one at the end of September.

“She’s maintained her fitness well from all the racing she had this year,” Brown said. “She might have gotten more out of that on the dirt going shorter than a lengthy turf work.”

Right after that team finished, Newspaperofrecord, winner of the Grade 2 Miss Grillo Stakes, worked a half-mile in 48.54 seconds. She worked in company with Significant Form, winner of last year’s Miss Grillo Stakes who was scratched from Saturday’s Pebbles Stakes. Newspaperofrecord is pointing to the Juvenile Fillies Turf, in which she will be the probable favorite.

“She’s breezed on the dirt several times in Saratoga, she did fine,” Brown said. “She was well in hand, he had a lot of horse underneath him. She’s impressive.”

Brown said Significant Form could run in the $150,000 Winter Memories at Aqueduct on Nov. 22.

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Robert Bruce, the Arlington Million winner and runner-up in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic, worked four furlongs in 49.15 seconds in company with Projected. The team went in quarter splits of 24.31 seconds and 24.84.

“He did what I needed him to do,” Brown said.

Brown said he hopes to get all three horses back on the turf next week.

Miss Technicality injured

Miss Technicality, winner of the Juvenile Fillies Turf at Kentucky Downs on Sept. 1, suffered a condylar fracture to her right foreleg at the conclusion of a half-mile workout Sunday over Belmont Park’s main track.

Miss Technicality, who finished fifth in the Miss Grillo and who was not being considered for the Breeders’ Cup, had a boot placed on her right foreleg and was vanned off the track. She was later transferred to the Cornell Ruffian Equine clinic across the street from Belmont where she is expected to undergo surgery on Monday, trainer Christophe Clement said.

“It’s a bad condylar fracture,” Clement said. “She’s well enough to go to the clinic to have surgery tomorrow and be reassessed afterwards.”

Miss Technicality, a daughter of Gio Ponti owned by John McCormack and Namcook Stables, has won 2 of 3 starts and earned $283,460.

This story originally appeared on DRF.com. 

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