One of the most accomplished racehorses in recent history, Castleton Lyons
Farm’s Gio Ponti returns to the turf at Belmont Park
on Saturday to run in his third straight Grade 1, $400,000 Woodford Reserve
Manhattan Handicap.
The 139th running of the historic grass race, run at 1 ¼
miles on the Inner Turf Course, is race No. 10 on the card, the third leg of
the $1 Million Guaranteed All Stakes Pick 4 that culminates with the Belmont
Stakes.
By any measure, the career of Gio Ponti, now racing as a 6-year-old, is
remarkable. His $5,337,800 in lifetime earnings ranks 28th on the
all-time list. Of his 24 career starts, 14 have come in Grade 1 races, six of
which he has won; 13 of his past 14 races have been Grade 1’s.
Perhaps most amazing of all is the fact that in all his starts, only
twice has he been beaten by more than two lengths.
“I’ve always liked him since he was 3 years old,”
said trainer Christophe Clement. “I’m very conscious of what
he’s meant to me and the barn and the owners. He’s training as well
if not better than last year. All the signs are there. He’s probably the
best horse I’ve ever trained.”
Gio Ponti won the Manhattan in 2009 and
finished second to stablemate Winchester
last year after checking sharply on the far turn.
So far this year, the son of Tale of the Cat is on the same path as in
2010. He opened his campaign finishing fifth in the Group 1, $10 million Dubai
World Cup, beaten 1 ¾ lengths. As he did last year, Gio Ponti now moves on to
the Manhattan.
“He’s been breezing every week on the Belmont grass,” Clement said.
“This is home for him. We’re going race by race. We’re on
more or less a similar schedule (as last year). We’re not obligated,
though, to do it like last year.”
Gio Ponti the 122-pound highweight, will certainly have plenty pace to
run at in the Manhattan,
as the race has attracted a bevy of speed horses.
Mission Approved, a 7-year-old who hasn’t raced since losing to
Gio Ponti by a neck last July in the Grade 1 Man o’ War, has been on the
lead at the half-mile call in eight of his past nine starts. His trainer-owner,
Naipaul Chatterpaul, is fueling his own fire, having also entered the sizzling
turf claimer Wishful Tomcat, who has won four of six grass starts. Also in the
field is Straight Story, trained by Alan Goldberg, who likes to run with the
leaders.
“This horse has a lot of back class,” Chatterpaul said of
Mission Approved, who he claimed for $35,000 and then almost knocked off Gio
Ponti in his next start at odds of 53-1. “He’s not a stranger in
all these races.”
Prince Will I Am, winner of the Grade 1 Jamaica Handicap last fall at Belmont, also figures to
benefit from the presence of several speed horses. Trained by Michelle Nihei
for Casa Farms One LLC, Prince Will I Am opened his 4-year-old season with a
victory in the Grade 2 Mac Diarmida at Gulfstream.
He then finished third in the Grade 3 Pan American and a troubled but
close-up fifth in the Grade 1 Turf Classic at Churchill Downs.
“We were victim of a field that looked like it would have pace
and didn’t have any,” Nihei said of the race at Churchill.
“It was hard to close. He made up four lengths but he couldn’t get
around and go by.
“I have no trepidation about putting this horse up against the
top turfers this year. He really is a star. He’s coming into the race
really, really well.”
Al Khali, from the stable of Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, comes in
off an eighth-place finish in the Turf Classic. He was also well-beaten by
Prince Will I Am in the Mac Diarmada, but the son of Medaglia d’Oro
thrives at Belmont, having won his past two starts on its grass, including the
Grade 2 Bowling Green last fall.
“He loves Belmont
Park,” said
Mott’s assistant, Leana Williford. “The only poor race over this
track was a bog in the Joe Hirsch. If it’s firm, he’s going to be
tough. This is a huge horse, and he doesn’t like tight turns. Hopefully
we put it all together on Saturday.”
One of the most fascinating entrants in the field of 10 is 7-year-old
Bold Hawk, who didn’t race between 2007 and 2010 because of a variety of
ailments. The giant son of Silver Hawk won the Grade 3 Hawthorne Derby at 3 and
has returned running as if never away.
“Every time something happened, we gave him six months
off,” said trainer Jimmy Toner. “He had a chip in the hind ankle, a
suspensory, blood platelet with bone marrow surgery, a shoulder thing. It
wasn’t like he was out of training for three years. We’d fix him up
and something would happen.
“He’s 17 hands high,” Toner said. “He looks
like a Clydesdale. Thank God he’s got an owner like Ronnie Nicholson.
I’d say, ‘Let’s give him away,’ and he’d say,
‘Let’s give him more time.’”
Trainer Mark Frostad has shipped Sam-Son Farm’s 7-year-old roan
Windward Islands down from Woodbine for the Manhattan. The son of Cozzene has been
consistently close in top-class races, won the Grade 2 Nijinsky last July, and
comes off a third-place finish in the Grade 2 Elkhorn in April at Keeneland.
“He can close off a slow pace or be farther back and close off a
fast pace,” said Frostad, who has engaged jockey Julien Leparoux for the
race. “He’s a pretty versatile.”
Leading Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien will run Viscount Nelson, who
competed in four straight Group 1 races last year in England
and Ireland, including a
third-place finish at 40-1 in the Irish 2000 Guineas.
Bim Bam, third for trainer Ron Moquett in the Grade 2 Dixie at Pimlico
Race Course on Preakness Day, completes the field.
The field for the Grade 1, $400,000
Woodford Reserve Manhattan
Handicap: