Asbury Park in the 2025 Jockey Club Derby, Janet Napolitano Photo
NYRA Press Office
J.C. Smith’s Group 2-winner Venetian Prince will ship to New York for the Grade 2, $500,000 Jockey Club Derby on Saturday, November 28, at Belmont Park.
The Jockey Club Derby is part of the three-day Belmont Fall Turf Festival slated for Friday, November 27, through Sunday, November 29, and featuring 11 stakes worth $3.2 million in total purse money. Nominations for the Belmont Fall Turf Festival close Thursday, November 12. For more information and to nominate horses, please visit https://www.nyra.com/belmont/horsemen/.
The Belmont Fall Turf Festival is headlined by a trio of $500,000 events on Saturday, November 28, led by the Grade 2 Man o’ War presented by Horse Racing Ireland at 10-furlongs for 3-year-olds and up; along with a pair of 1 5/16-mile stamina tests in the Grade 2 Jockey Club Derby for sophomores and the Grade 3 Jockey Club Oaks for sophomore fillies. For the complete stakes schedule, please visit https://www.nyra.com/belmont/racing/stakes-schedule/.
Trained by Andrew Balding, Venetian Prince graduated at second asking over seven furlongs of good-to-firm turf in August 2025 at Newmarket to complete a brief juvenile campaign. The St Mark’s Basilica colt returned to action with a pair of runner-up efforts traveling one-mile on the all-weather, beginning with a nose defeat to Knowledge in a novice stakes in January at Southwell ahead of a 1 1/2-length second to eventual Group 3-winner Hidden Force in February at Kempton as part of the European Road to the Kentucky Derby.
Venetian Prince subsequently returned to turf and three starts later was stepped up in trip to capture the 11-furlong Group 2 Italian Derby traveling right-handed over good-to-soft ground in June at San Siro.
“They had a lot of rain leading up to the race, so the ground was pretty slow which we were unsure about at the time, but it suited him really well. That was the first time we put cheek pieces on him, and he was very tough and strong at the end of the race and got up in the last 50 yards to win it,” said Balding, whose two previous starters here yielded runner-up efforts from Blond Me in the 2015 Grade 2 Sands Point and with The Foxes in the 2023 Grade 1 Belmont Derby Invitational.
Venetian Prince exited that effort to run off-the-board in the 12-furlong Group 2 King Edward VII two weeks later at Royal Ascot.
“He came back to run poorly at Ascot but came back with an issue, so it was easily explained – he was lame after the race and took a bit of time to recover,” Balding said.
Venetian Prince emerged from a freshening on September 7 at Windsor to run second in the 10-furlong Group 3 Winter Hill over good ground when 2 1/2-lengths back of possible returning rival Maho Bay. There, he tracked from fourth position as Maho Bay, who was exiting a close fifth in the Group 3 Hampton Court at Royal Ascot, dictated terms. Venetian Prince advanced willingly with an outside run in the final two furlongs but could not chase down the pacesetter.
Balding noted that Venetian Prince was assigned 133 pounds that day, five pounds more than the Charlie Appleby-trained Maho Bay.
“It was obviously a talented opponent, but we ran him close and look forward to taking him on again. We were giving him weight that day with the Group 2 penalty,” Balding said.
Venetian Prince followed last out with a four-length third in the 12-furlong Group 2 Premio Del Jockey Club over soft going on October 25 at San Siro. There, he made a wide run down the lane but could not reel in the victorious Stingray, who streaked to a third consecutive win over Group 2-winner Global Health.
“We’ve been very pleased with his most recent starts,” Balding said. “If we get some rain, it will be to his advantage. He’s had a midseason break and is a reasonably fresh horse, so we’re looking forward to it.”
Venetian Prince is a half-brother to multiple group stakes-winner See The Fire, who ran second in the Grade 1 E. P. Taylor in September at Woodbine for these connections. Both horses are out of the multiple group stakes-winning Dubawi mare Arabian Queen, who upset the 2015 Group 1 Juddmonte International over the previously unbeaten Golden Horn – subsequent winner of that year’s Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.
“It’s a great family,” Balding said. “The mother beat Golden Horn to win the Juddmonte International and was a very talented mare. This horse is pretty good in his own right having won the Italian Derby.”
Among the Balding/Smith campaigned half-siblings to Venetian Prince are the multiple group-placed 4-year-old colt Royal Playwright, a son of Lope de Vega; and a 2-year-old daughter of No Nay Never named Forbidden Fire, a Listed stakes-winner that was recently third to the victorious Musical Times in the Group 1 Fillies’ Mile at Newmarket.
Venetian Prince is scheduled to ship to New York on November 18 and will be piloted in the Jockey Club Derby by Jason Watson, who has been aboard for the past three outings.
Balding indicated part of the impetus to travel was to see first-hand the new Belmont Park, which has been selected to host the 2027 Breeders’ Cup World Championships, and will mark the first edition of the Breeders’ Cup to be held in New York State since 2005. The 44th Breeders’ Cup World Championships is set for October 29-30, 2027.
“We’re looking forward to seeing the new Belmont. With the Breeders’ Cup being there next year, it will be interesting to see the layout,” Balding said.
Additional news, notes, advances and recaps are available at: https://www.nyra.com/belmont/news/.
For more information about the new Belmont Park, visit NewBelmont.com.
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