Ag Bullet took the 2025 Jaipur in style, Chelsea Durand Photo
Mary Eddy
Calvin Nguyen and Joey Tran’s speedy mare Ag Bullet scored a much sought-after Grade 1 victory in last year’s Jaipur versus males at Saratoga Race Course. On Saturday, she will look to successfully defend her title in her seasonal bow under Hall of Famer John Velazquez in the $500,000 affair for 3-year-olds and up sprinting 5 1/2 furlongs over the Spa’s Mellon turf.
“We’re going to try it again,” trainer Richard Baltas said. “It’s going to be a tough race, but she’s tough and Johnny will be back on her, so that’s good. They’re ready [to run] when they’re ready, and she runs really well fresh. She’s always ran good off the layoff, it’s just a matter of getting her there. So far, so good. I think she’s plenty fit enough with several five-eighths works.”
The Jaipur – a “Win and You’re In” for the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint in October at Keeneland – is slated as Race 9 and is one of seven graded stakes races on Saturday’s card for the featured Day Four of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, which is highlighted by the Grade 1, $2 million Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets in Race 13. First post is 11 a.m. Eastern, with gates opening to the public at 9 a.m.
Ag Bullet looks to build upon an impressive 5-2-1-1 record last year that was highlighted by back-to-back graded wins in the Jaipur in June and a repeat score in the Grade 2 Ladies Turf Sprint in August at Kentucky Downs. The 6-year-old Twirling Candy gray went on to finish a game second to Shisospicy in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint on November 1 at Del Mar, and returned just 29 days later to finish a three-length third when stretched out to one-mile for the Grade 1 Matriarch there in her most recent effort.
In last year’s Jaipur, Ag Bullet entered from an off-the-board finish in the Grade 3 Unbridled Sydney in May at Churchill Downs, but bounced back with vigor to win emphatically after stalking the pace set by Coppola. Expertly handled by Velazquez – who climbs aboard again on Saturday from post 6 – Ag Bullet pounced at the quarter pole and kept on strongly in the lane to post the two-length score over returning rival My Boy Prince in a final time of 1:03.62, earning a 101 Beyer Speed Figure.
“I was up in the stands and all of a sudden she was up by two or three lengths in the stretch and I was like, ‘oh, wow, this is really happening,’” Baltas recalled, with a laugh. “We went out there trying to win a Grade 1 against boys and it happened. She’s a lovely horse and she’s been great to us.”
Ag Bullet has been a model of consistency, boasting a 17-8-1-3 overall ledger with additional graded victories in 2024 in the Grade 3 Monrovia at Santa Anita Park and the Ladies Turf Sprint en route to a neck third in her first Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint try. She is a stakes-winner at distances ranging from 5 1/2 furlongs to one-mile, and has shown adaptability in running style with wins both on and off the pace.
“She has enough natural speed to place herself where she wants to be,” Baltas said. “If they don’t go fast, she’ll be up there, it just depends how she breaks. It’s really up to the jockey, and she can be where you want to be. Her best distance is probably six-and-a-half, but she’s won several times going five and five-and-a-half, and a mile.”
Steep opposition will be provided by Alex and JoAnn Lieblong’s millionaire Florida homebred Reef Runner [post 5, Irad Ortiz, Jr.], who enters off two strong performances in the Middle East for conditioner David Fawkes.
The 5-year-old The Big Beast gelding put together a solid 10-start campaign last year that was topped by a Grade 2 win in the Eddie D at Santa Anita Park, and a gutsy effort in the Grade 3 Green Flash Handicap that saw him cross the wire a nose in front of Motorious, but disqualified and placed second for early interference. He concluded his year with a four-length fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, and a win in the Listed Janus at Gulfstream Park in December ahead of his overseas endeavors.
Reef Runner was freshened between May and August last year, and was gelded ahead of a successful return in the Warrior’s Pride Overnight in August at Gulfstream Park.
“He’s doing great, his works have been phenomenal, and everything about him is better,” Fawkes said of Reef Runner’s development since last summer. “Obviously gelding him was a huge factor, and he turned around. He lost weight up in his neck and chest where these colts carry weight, and it really evened him out. He’s nice and level, and he’s more balanced.”
In his lone start under Irad Ortiz, Jr., Reef Runner posted a determined neck victory over dual Group 1-winner Lazzat in the about-6 3/4-furlong Group 2 1351 Turf Sprint in February at King Abdulaziz Racecourse. He followed with a respectable 1 1/2-length fourth under William Buick in the about six-furlong Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint on March 28 over good footing on the straight at Meydan Racecourse in his most recent outing.
Fawkes said the cut in the ground that night in Dubai likely hindered Reef Runner.
“That’s all I can attribute to the way he ran,” he said. “[Buick] said he was looking for a turn, but he was looking for a harder surface to be honest. He doesn’t have the biggest feet in the world. Some of these turf horses have a little bit bigger foot, but he doesn’t. He’s got to have his surface.”
Fawkes said Reef Runner, an earner of just shy of $2 million, has the class and talent to handle the cutback in distance on Saturday.
“I wouldn’t mind a little further distance in this race, but he’s won from six and three-quarters [furlongs] and below – he’s pretty versatile,” the trainer said.
Dual Hall of Famer Mark Casse shared similar sentiments about the Jaipur distance for Canada’s 2023 Champion 2-Year-Old Colt My Boy Prince [post 10, Jose Ortiz], who has made his last two outings over this distance, including a 1 1/4-length win in the Grade 2 Shakertown in April at Keeneland and a half-length fourth in the Grade 2 Twin Spires Turf Sprint last out on May 2 at Churchill Downs, landing a nose back of third-place returning rival Litigation.
“He’s one that would enjoy a little more ground, so at five-and-a-half-furlongs he’s going to need a great trip,” Casse said.
Campaigned by Gary Barber, the 5-year-old son of Cairo Prince looks to finish one better than last year’s Jaipur when second to Ag Bullet with a similar trip to his victorious rival. Since that effort – which came on the heels of a win in the Listed Elusive Quality at Belmont at the Big A in his first start as a gelding – My Boy Prince has hit the board in 5-of-8 attempts, led by his Shakertown score and near misses in the Grade 2 Highlander at Woodbine Racetrack [second by a neck] and the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile [second by 1 3/4 lengths].
Casse praised the gray gelding’s versatility, noting his three-quarter-length second in the 10-furlong King’s Plate as a sophomore at Woodbine, and his valiant second to Notable Speech in the Woodbine Mile in September.
“His Woodbine Mile was good,” Casse said, “He’s just a good horse that tries hard every time. He’s versatile enough. He ran well in the King’s Plate going a mile and a quarter, but he’s also fast enough to win going 5 1/2-furlongs.”
Casse added that My Boy Prince has also benefitted physically from being gelded.
“The problem with colts is they start becoming massive if you’re not careful,” he said. “He’s responded well since becoming a gelding and I think he’s running better and seems to be getting better.”
My Boy Prince, whose other two starts this year came at five furlongs with a third in the Listed Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint and a win in the Turf Dash at Tampa Bay Downs, holds a 24-9-6-2 record with $1,478,400 in total purse earnings.
A specialist at the five and 5 1/2-furlong distances is Stone Farm’s Kentucky homebred Litigation [post 3, Florent Geroux], who has made each of his last 10 starts at those distances, including a neck third in the Twin Spires Turf Sprint as part of the blanket finish that involved My Boy Prince.
Trained by Brian Lynch, the 4-year-old Twirling Candy colt makes his fifth start this campaign, which kicked off with back-to-back five-furlong wins at Gulfstream in the aforementioned Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint and the Listed Silks Run, where his 1 3/4-length score garnered a lifetime best 102 Beyer.
A six-time winner from 12 starts, Litigation finished a 2 1/2-length sixth to Reef Runner in the Janus in December, his only finish outside of the superfecta since last March. The Jaipur will be his sixth consecutive stakes start dating to December.
Bregman Family Racing and Swinbank Stables’ dual Grade 1-placed Governor Sam [post 1, Paco Lopez] gets back to turf after his seasonal bow was rained off and switched to the Gulfstream Park Tapeta on May 3. The 4-year-old Improbable gelding landed a 1 1/2-length fourth under Paco Lopez with an off-the-pace trip sprinting five furlongs.
“He’s kind of a heavy horse and we just used that race to get a race under his belt,” said trainer George Weaver. “They took it off the turf and put it on the synthetic and we didn’t know how he’d handle that. Paco rode him that day and was happy with him, said it should set him up good for his next start.”
A three-time turf sprint stakes-winner as a juvenile, Governor Sam was a pacesetting third in the 2024 Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Del Mar, and has had success over this course and distance, including a second-out graduation in July 2024, and a win in the Grade 3 Quick Call presented by Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation last summer ahead of a second to Spiced Up in the Grade 3 Mahony. He is in search of his first win since the Quick Call.
Pantofel Stable, Wachtel Stable and Gary Barber’s evergreen gelding Bold Journey [post 2, Junior Alvarado] switches back to turf after running on dirt over the winter for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott.
The 7-year-old New York-bred son of Hard Spun, who previously made all but two of his starts on dirt, had a six-race stint on turf last year that included second-place finishes in four stakes in New York, including a neck defeat to Alogon in the six-furlong Grade 3 Belmont Turf Sprint in September at Belmont at the Big A.
This year, Bold Journey has hit the board in each of his three outings, led by a nose win in the Grade 3 Tom Fool sprinting six furlongs over the Aqueduct Racetrack main track in February.
“He’s doing good,” Mott said. “Five and a half is a little short, and six and a half is a little long. But he’s done well.”
Bred in the Empire State by Fred W. Hertrich, III and John D. Fielding, Bold Journey, who finished ninth in last year’s Jaipur, has banked more than $1 million through a 35-8-11-4 record.
Completing the competitive field are Grade 3-winner Clock Tower [post 7, Dylan Davis] for trainer Wesley Ward; dual graded stakes-placed New York-bred Twenty Six Black [post 9, Manny Franco] for conditioner Horacio De Paz; dual stakes-winning New York-bred Works for Me [post 4, Flavien Prat], who is cross-entered in the Mighty Beau on Saturday at Churchill Downs for trainer Joe Lee; and the Rob Atras-trained John the Beer Man [post 8, Kendrick Carmouche], who notched back-to-back wins in allowance-level turf sprints this spring off a nearly two-year layoff.
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