Boisterous seeks three-peat in Knickerbocker

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.

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.