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Indian Blessing tops Ruffian; Pure Clan invades Garden City Champion INDIAN BLESSING (Indian Charlie) will stretch back out to 8 1/2 furlongs and face older rivals for the first time in Saturday's $300,000 Ruffian H. (G1), one of two major events, along with the $250,000 Garden City S. (G1), on the first Saturday of the Belmont Park Fall Meet. A seven-length winner of the seven-furlong Test S. (G1) last time out and a 5 1/4-length victress in the six-furlong Prioress S. (G1) two starts back, Indian Blessing is ultimately being pointed toward the seven-furlong Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint S. at Santa Anita on October 24. "It's a mile and a sixteenth, but it's one turn," trainer Bob Baffert explained. "I think she's relaxing a little bit more. Now is the time to try it." Indian Blessing went three for three last season, including an easy score in the 1 1/16-mile Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1), en route to winning the Eclipse Award for champion two-year-old filly. She opened 2008 with two more victories before suffering her first setback in the 1 1/16-mile Fair Grounds Oaks (G2). She cut back to a mile for her next outing and has made her last two starts sprinting. John Velazquez, who picked up the mount in the Prioress, will return to the saddle. Baffert will also send out Grade 1 heroine TOUGH TIZ'S SIS (Tiznow), who ships east after chasing unbeaten dynamo Zenyatta (Street Cry [Ire]) in her last two starts. The four-year-old filly has compiled a respectable 6-2-3-1 mark this season and will pick up the services of Edgar Prado. Other participants include Grade 1 winner LITTLE BELLE (A.P. Indy), who will step up to face her elders off a third in the Alabama S. (G1); Grade 2 queen SPRING WALTZ (Silver Charm); last-out Go for Wand H. (G1) runner-up COPPER STATE (Jump Start); and the late-running MIRACULOUS MISS (Mr. Greeley), who will stretch out in distance off a second in the seven-furlong Ballerina S. (G1). American Oaks Invitational (G1) queen PURE CLAN (Pure Prize) highlights a field of 10 sophomore fillies entered in the Garden City. Conditioned by Bob Holthus, Pure Clan opened her racing career last year with a pair of turf wins but moved to the main track for her next five starts. She won the Golden Rod S. (G2) and finished third in the Kentucky Oaks (G1), but the chestnut lass is better on the sod. Pure Clan rolled to a 2 3/4-length score in the Regret S. (G3) at Churchill Downs two starts back and split horses boldly in the stretch to defeat a strong field in the American Oaks at Hollywood Park most recently. Now four for four on grass, she will make her first start in New York in the 1 1/8-mile Garden City. Julien Leparoux will guide her. MY PRINCESS JESS (Stormy Atlantic) and ALWAJEEHA (Dixieland Band), the respective one-two finishers in the Lake George S. (G2), and Lake Placid S. (G2) winner BACKSEAT RHYTHM (El Corredor) will also line up over Belmont's inner turf course. Grade 1 winner ARIEGE (Doneraile Court) will bring a three-race winning skein into the Garden City, and American Oaks runner-up SATAN'S CIRCUS (Gone West) also merits respect. Multiple Grade 1 winner COUNTRY STAR (Empire Maker) and allowance winner SENIOR RITA LADY (Fusaichi Pegasus) are entered for the main-track only.
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