Grade 1 races are on the horizon for Trappe Shot, the
easy winner of a deep allowance race on yesterday’s Belmont Stakes undercard.
Trappe Shot, owned by Nicholas Brady’s Mill House, was geared
down late as he defeated Tahitian Warrior by four lengths and picked up his
third consecutive victory. The son of Tapit covered seven furlongs in 1:22.18,
0.46 seconds faster than D’ Funnybone’s time when he won the Grade 2 Woody
Stephens presented by Emirates Airline over the same distance later in the day.
“That was impressive,” reflected Kiaran McLaughlin Sunday
morning. “We’re pointing to August 28 [at Saratoga],
whether it’s the [Grade 1] King’s Bishop or [Grade 1] Travers. We could go to
the [Grade 2, August 2] Amsterdam
or [Grade 2, July 31] Jim Dandy first, depending on which way we’re leaning.”
McLaughlin added that he was “very happy” with how Uptowncharlybrown
came out of yesterday’s Belmont Stakes.
Uptowncharlybrown was fifth under the finish line in the
Belmont but was later disqualified and unplaced after it was discovered an
eight-pound lead pad fell out of the saddle during the race, causing him to
fail to carry the 126-pound weight assignment over the 1½-mile distance.
“It was a very strange situation,” said McLaughlin. “I’ve
never had that happen to me, but I’m sure it has happened before.”