Deterministic hits the wire as Kendrick Carmouche checks his competition. (Adam Coglianese/NYRA)
Michael Adolphson
The Grade 1, $1 million Resorts World Casino Manhattan often assembles a complex and accomplished international cast and that is exactly what St. Elias Stable, Ken Langone, Steven Duncker and Vicarage Stable’s Deterministic will have to defy when he attempts to win a second consecutive renewal of one of America’s top grass races.
Contested over 1 3/16-miles on the Mellon turf, the Manhattan is one of six Grade 1s on the blockbuster 14-fixture card – slated as Race 12 – and has been won by America’s Champion Turf Male seven times, including Up to the Mark [2023], Bricks and Mortar [2019], Flintshire [2016], Gio Ponti [2009], Chief Bearhart [1998], Paradise Creek [1994] and Sky Classic [1992]. Bricks and Mortar would go on to win the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf the same season, while Chief Bearhart and Better Talk Now [2007] won the Breeders’ Cup Turf prior to sipping their respective Manhattans.
Trained by Miguel Clement, Deterministic was a gate-to-wire victor one year ago over good turf when the race was contested over nine furlongs for the first and only time. A winner of eight of his 14 runs, the 5-year-old son of Liam’s Map enters on a four-race win streak, having since taken the Grade 1 Fourstardave to cap his 2025 campaign and a title defense in the Grade 3 Fort Marcy to commence his 2026 tenure. Kendrick Carmouche reunites from post 5.
“He’s doing spectacularly well,” Clement said. “It is a great race, but he’s doing as good as he could be. Knock on wood, but I’m very excited about this. He’s a terrific horse. He was probably left a little undercooked for his last race. He won based off pure grit and class. I think he has stepped forward since then, so this is just exciting.”
His main domestic rival appears to be Gary Barber, Cheyenne Stable and Wachtel Stable’s Rhetorical, a six-time winner from nine starts, who reigned supreme on the front end in Churchill Downs’ Grade 1 Turf Classic last out to secure his second Grade 1 success following Keeneland’s Coolmore Turf Mile last fall. The reigning New York-bred Horse of the Year, bred by Mallory Mort and Karen Mort, is a son of Not This Time – coincidentally Liam’s Map’s half-brother.
Rhetorical [listed to race with one aluminum pad] has been trained on trajectory by Will Walden in 2026, stepping up markedly from his third in the Grade 1 Maker’s Mark Mile on seasonal bow to land the aforementioned Kentucky Derby day feature. Irad Ortiz, Jr., who seeks a record-tying fifth Manhattan after victories with Up to the Mark, Instilled Regard [2020], Bricks and Mortar and Slumber [2015], rides from post 7.
“I don’t know if the lead will come as easy in this race with Miguel’s horse in there,” Walden said. “We’ll let it all work out. I thought his last race was obviously really impressive. He was able to get out there and take a deep breath and relax, which is key for him. Obviously, stretching out was not an issue. If the last race was an extra sixteenth longer or an extra quarter-mile, he still would’ve won. He was just rolling and galloped out huge. There are a lot of horses to respect in here. This is a tough race, the Manhattan, a Grade 1 on a big day like this. We respect every horse in here. We will come up with our game plan, stick to what we know and go from there.”
Second behind Rhetorical last out, Wathnan Racing’s Hamad Al Jehani-trained Make Me King [post 3, Jose Ortiz] looks to flex his impressive ability to take his racetrack with him – including a good fourth to Godolphin superstar Ombudsman one race prior in the Group 1 Dubai Turf.
A globetrotter who has competed in five countries – USA, UAE, Qatar, UK and France – in the past year and held his form, the son of Dark Angel went home to Jehani’s summer base in Newmarket for a short rest following his first stateside foray. He has shipped back for what will likely be his final run before a spell.
“I was really happy with his performance on Kentucky Derby day in Grade 1 company and he has done well since the race, so I’m happy to see him compete again,” Jehani said. “In Dubai, we got to see him go nine furlongs for the first time and he did well and then again in America last time, which gives us confidence. The distance suits him and we’re excited to give him another chance on a big race day.”
Legendary French conditioner Andre Fabre makes a rare foray into New York racing with Bright Picture, with the son of Intello looking to give the 30-time French Champion trainer a 13th North American Grade 1 victory and second at Saratoga, following Flintshire’s 2015 Sword Dancer.
Owned by Wertheimer and Frere, Alain and Gerard Wertheimer of the House of Chanel, the chestnut 5-year-old gelding has been nothing short of fashionable in performance, including two stakes wins already in 2026 – the Group 3 Prix Exbury and Group 2 Prix d’Harcourt – before finishing second to Europe’s top middle-distance horse, Daryz, last out in the Group 1 Prix Ganay. Frenchman Flavien Prat, naturally, picks up the mount from post 6, seeking his second victory in the race following Domestic Spending [2021].
“I’m very pleased with Bright Picture,” Fabre said. “He was only just beaten by Daryz and I’m happy with his preparation since.”
Trainer Graham Motion, winner of the Manhattan with Spring Quality [2018], Ascend [2017] and Better Talk Now, sends out a pair of Grade/Group 1 winners in Hollywood Racing and Rikesh Sewgoolam’s One Stripe and Amerman Racing’s Test Score.
Formerly based in South Africa, where he won a pair of Group 1s, One Stripe has progressed well stateside and looks to be in career form going into the Manhattan on the strength of runner-up efforts in both the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf and aforementioned Maker’s Mark Mile. A late-running sort, he will reunite with South Africa-based jockey Gavin Lerena, with whom he won both the Group 1 King’s Plate and Group 1 Cape Guineas. The pair break from post 8.
“He was probably a bit unlucky in both starts this year,” Motion reflected. “He sure hasn’t done much wrong. I’ve been speaking to [South African trainer] Mike de Kock about this horse ever since I got him. He always felt there’s stamina in his pedigree and he would know much better than I would. We’ve always been tempted to try and run him a little farther, so this seemed like the logical spot. The spacing is good and he’s done well.”
Stablemate Test Score bested One Stripe in the Pegasus World Cup Turf, capping a strong nine-race February-to-January campaign that included a win in the Grade 1 Belmont Derby Invitational. Given a rest, he returned to finish a disappointing eighth from post 8-of-9 in Rhetorical’s Turf Classic and figures primed to improve. Regular rider Manny Franco, who won the 2022 Manhattan with Tribhuvan, rides from post 2.
“I’m totally perplexed by how he ran at Churchill,” Motion said. “He was just never really traveling last time. I thought the post was fine, going a mile and an eighth, but honestly, I think it really hurt him. Before the race, I thought it was not a big deal, but he just got hung wide. Never got over to save any ground. The first time they came in front of the grandstand, I didn’t feel like things were going well. From there, Manny just said he was kind of out of horse at the half-mile pole. I don’t know what to make of it. A complete head-scratcher. This horse is so genuine; he always shows up. That was the only bad race he’s ever run in his life, aside from maybe when he ran at Saratoga as a 2-year-old. He seems great. He’s been training at Fair Hill since Churchill.”
Another trainer doubling up to seek his fourth win in the race is Shug McGaughey, who landed the Manhattan with the brilliant Point of Entry [2013], as well as Dancing Forever [2008] and Good Reward [2005]. The Hall of Fame trainer sends out West Point Thoroughbreds and Woodford Racing’s pair of Integration and Battle of Normandy.
Second in this race last year, Integration exits a confidence-building optional-claiming win at Aqueduct Racetrack and seeks to shed the bridesmaid banner, having placed in six of the nine Grade 1 races in which he has competed. The Grade 2 Red Smith winner from 2024 will be ridden by Point of Entry’s pilot, Hall of Famer John Velazquez, from post 4.
Battle of Normandy, who has won or placed in 12-of-17 starts, enters off a second in the Grade 3 Fort Marcy at the Big A, an effort that followed up the same placement in Gulfstream Park’s Grade 3 Canadian Turf. Dylan Davis has the assignment on the son of City of Light from post 9. It is fitting that Battle of Normandy will race on June 6, some 82 years after the D-Day landings in 1944.
Completing the field is Sackatoga Stable’s Barclay Tagg-trained Tiz Dashing, winner of the aforementioned Canadian Turf and subsequently seventh in the Maker’s Mark Mile. Victor of the Grade 3 Hill Prince at the Big A last November, the son of Travers winner Tiz the Law will be ridden by dual Manhattan winner Javier Castellano, pilot of Flintshire and Real Solution [2014], from the inside post.
The Manhattan is slated as Race 12 on Saturday’s stacked 14-race program, which kicks off at 11 a.m. Eastern. Highlighted by the 158th edition of Grade 1, $2 million Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets on Saturday, June 6, the 2026 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival will include 10 Grade 1 races among 18 graded stakes across five days of world class competition. For more information and to buy tickets, visit https://www.nyra.com/belmont-stakes/.
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