Nat'l Museum of Racing Hall of Fame J

AMERICAN

GRADED STAKES PREVIEWS

A field of seven has been entered in Monday's $150,000 National Museum of

Racing Hall of Fame S. (G2) at Saratoga, and ADRIANO (A.P. Indy) looks like the

one to beat under Edgar Prado. The Bill Mott trainee broke his maiden on

Saratoga's turf last August before going on to take an allowance on the green at

Gulfstream Park by 6 3/4 lengths. He didn't like the dirt at Gulfstream or

Churchill Downs, but threw in a 2 1/2-length score in the Lane's End S. (G2)

over Turfway Park's Polytrack. The chestnut three-year-old made his return to

the grass, and his first start for Mott, last out in the Colonial Turf Cup S.

(G3) and probably needed that one when running fifth off the break. He should

have no trouble handling this field.

WILLSBORO POINT (Point Given) appears to be the likely pacesetter and could

forget to stop on the front end. The Scott Schwartz charge has captured three of

his last four, including a 1 1/2-length victory in the French Colonial S. at

Belmont Park last out, and is undefeated from two tries at the 1 1/8-mile

distance. The bay gelding has posted BRIS numbers comparable to every other

runner in here except Adriano, and might offer a slight upset with Eibar Coa

aboard.

DEAL MAKING (Empire Maker) will be seeking to keep his undefeated career mark

perfect in his fourth start. Conditioned by Graham Motion, the dark bay colt

broke his maiden, captured an allowance, then proceeded to take the next step up

the ladder when annexing the Stanton S. last out. The only knock against Deal

Making is he wasn't beating all that much in those races and will get his first

real challenge here. If he can handle the extra bit of ground and class hike he

should make his presence felt in the top three.

FIELD SPORT (Jade Hunter) earned his first win in an off-the-turf maiden at

Philadelphia Park in early June, then moved back to the green to graduate from a

first-level allowance. He was only a length back in third in another

allowance/optional claiming test most recently, and might grab a share here with

Robby Albarado in the irons. WESLEY (El Prado [Ire]) was well-beaten when facing

stakes rivals on the dirt, but immediately showed up in the winner's circle when

taking his grass debut next out by a head at Belmont Park. The gray colt earned

a 101 BRIS Late Pace figure for that effort and could make a run for the exotics

at the end of this one.

PICOU (With Approval) and THOU SWELL (Aptitude) each just broke his maiden

last out and will probably find this too much of a class jump at this time.

We'll go against.