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Boisterous seeks three-peat in Knickerbocker
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| Boisterous' four graded wins at Belmont include the last two runnings of the Knickerbocker
(Ross Woodson/Horsephotos.com) |
Although one of the oldest grass stakes on the New York calendar, the Grade
3, $200,000
Knickerbocker has never been won by the same horse three times. Boisterous
will be attempt to become the first to do so when the nine-furlong test is
renewed Saturday over Belmont Park's inner turf.
The past two runnings of the Knickerbocker have served as a rebound race for
the talented Boisterous, who races for Phipps Stable and is trained by Shug
McGaughey. Wins in 2011 and 2012 ended losing streaks for the six-year-old son
of Distorted Humor, and this year will be no different.
Achieving the rank of Grade 1 winner for the first time in the July 13 Man o'
War, Boisterous proceeded to drop both the Sword Dancer Invitational at Saratoga
and the Bowling Green at Belmont when strongly favored in both. In the Bowling
Green, Boisterous was forced to check at the quarter pole when a narrowing
opening he attempted to go through abruptly closed.
"He'll be sharp enough," McGaughey said. "We'll see if he's good
enough. His race in the Bowling Green was a good race. He was unlucky to
lose; he came up on the rail and got stopped." |
Boisterous will need to have his running shoes on as the Knickerbocker
attracted its deepest field in years. One who might actually vie for the
favorite's role is Za Approval, who captured the Appleton at Gulfstream and the
Red Bank at Monmouth before finishing second to the nation's best turf milers,
Wise Dan and Obviously, in the Woodbine Mile and the Shoemaker Mile,
respectively. The Knickerbocker will mark Za Approval's first attempt beyond 1 1/16 miles.
"The (distance) won't be a problem," trainer Christophe Clement said. "He
should be efficient from a mile to a mile an eighth on firm turf. If it isn't
firm, he won't run."
Swift Warrior, a two-time Grade 3 winner last winter at Sam Houston and Tampa
Bay Downs, enters off a 1 1/4-length victory in the PTHA President's Cup at
Parx, and was not far behind Boisterous at the finish of last November's River
City Handicap at Churchill Downs despite a wide trip.
"He seems to be in good form coming off the win last time at Parx," trainer
John Terranova said.
Mr. Commons, a multiple Grade 2 winner in California, seeks to snap a losing
streak that dates back to the winter of 2012. The John Shirreffs trainee
finished third to Wise Dan in the Maker's 46 Mile back in April, but finished a
more-distant fourth to that rival in the Fourstardave Handicap last time.
Others of note in the Knickerbocker lineup are Colonial Turf Cup winner
London Lane, who was subsequently unplaced in the Sword Dancer and Bowling
Green; Grade 3 veteran Howe Great, who placed in the Poker, Oceanport, and Cliff
Hanger in his last three; and Paris Vegas and Tetradrachm, the respective second
and third to Wise Dan in the August 31 Bernard Baruch Handicap.
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| Gallorette winner Pianist faces stablemate Samitar in the Athenia
(Jim McCue/Maryland Jockey Club) |
The co-featured Grade 3, $200,000
Athenia,
for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles on the Widener turf, also attracted a
strong field, led by the Chad Brown-trained pair of Samitar and Pianist.
A classic winner in Ireland last season, Samitar later added the Garden City
in her second U.S. outing. However, the Rock of Gibraltar filly has not been
quite as stellar this term, notching only a pair of restricted $100,000 stakes
on the New York circuit while settling for minor awards in her graded outings.
Pianist, who captured the Gallorette Handicap over a speed-favoring Pimlico
turf back in May, got a taste of her own medicine when fustily chasing Laughing
around Saratoga's inner turf in the August 24 Ballston Spa. The neck defeat to
that rival looks strong in retrospect as Laughing went on to capture last
month's Flower Bowl.
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Also in the mix are Assateague and Ruthenia, one-two in the $100,000 De La
Rose on August 3; Abaco, the runner-up in the Suwannee River and Lady Baltimore;
Lady Cohiba, winner of the off-the-turf Glens Falls on Labor Day; and My Perfect
Ten, last-out winner of the Ellis Park Turf.
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