Belmont Park, Race 1 – Thursday, May 11, 2023
By 2YO EdgeMan
BEL1:051123 – 5f on the dirt. Eight fillies will grace the track in this 2YO Maiden Special Weight affair. Wesley Ward will send out two and Christophe Clement saddles one. Spendthrift Farm’s much anticipated First-Crop Sire – Omaha Beach – has one gal in here, as does Airdrie Stud’s 1CS -Preservationist. Two of the eight entered have seen action in one previous race and the other six will make their first competitive foray.
#1 – Sam’s Treasure (8/5) – The favorite is the first of two in this field trained by WW and she’s by Munnings. Mom was winless in five tries before being turned out as a broodmare. This gal was a superstar in the auction ring selling to Breeze Easy for $700K as a yearling – the most of 91 in her class last year by her sire. Ward has put five drills into this filly, all at Keeneland (the last two at ½ mile), however none are very fast – certainly not like we typically see from Wesley. The reins will be competently be handled by Irad Ortiz, Jr.
#5 – Chitarra (2/1) – Starter number two from Ward is a filly by Advertise, was bred in Ireland and is owned by the terrific outfit of Stonestreet Stables. She did quite well in the sales ring, too, going for $360K+ at Tattersails’ October Yearling sale (2/64). Her dam, by Australia, was unraced and this is her first foal. Like her stablemate, her last four workouts were completed at KEE (her last two also covered four panels) and the times of the moves were not overly impressive. The leg up will go to Johnny V.
#6 – Marco T. (6/1) – Kantharos is the sire of this NY bred gal who is trained by Christophe Clement (3/23 with FTSs in 2YO MSW races in Belmont Spring racing dating back five years). She hammered down for $165K as a yearling which was good for 5th highest of the 71 yearlings by dad in 2022. Her Super Saver dam was unraced and her three-year-old ½ brother by Lord Nelson is currently 0 for 11 on the racetrack. She only has three workouts under her belt, but all have been over today’s track. Manny Franco will be her guide.
#7 – Cynane (6/1) – Omaha Beach will send out his second starter from his initial crop and like all the others listed in this preview, she is a FTS. This filly sold for $250K last year (23/87) and her mom was 2 for 8 as a race mare, banking $114K. Tom Morley is the conditioner and he’ll be looking for his first win with a baby making their first start in a MSW in the spring at BEL since 2018 (this will be his 7th try). She’s worked over the BEL strip six times with an excellent bullet work three back on 4/20/23 when she covered ½ mile in 47.6 seconds from the gate (1/50). Derby hero, Javier Castellano, answers the call to ride.
Pick – #7 Cynane – Omaha Beach is going to notch his first winner soon and I think it will be today. She sold well (top 3rd) and I really like the one workout that Morley put into her three weeks back. She certainly knows the track well having worked over it a half dozen times. Lastly, there certainly is no jockey riding on a cloud higher than Javier.
This will definitely be a competitive affair with the two Ward fillies and also Clement’s runner. I am anxious to watch it and I hope that you are, too. Have fun and good luck to all you wild and crazy Edgies. More soon…
