Gio Ponti Seeks Man O'War Repeat

Photo: Katherin Eaton/Eclipse Sportswire

Although still looking for his first win of 2010, dual Eclipse Award winner Gio Ponti’s elite combination of class and ability makes him the overwhelming 1-2 morning line favorite in Saturday’s 52^nd running of the Grade 1, $600,000 Man o’War at Belmont Park.

Gio Ponti heads a field of eight in the 1 3/8-mile turf race, one of four consecutive Grade 1 contests he won last year en route to Eclipse honors as both top male turf horse and older male.

While the 5-year-old son of Tale of the Cat is thrice beaten so far this year and closed out his 2009 campaign with a pair of second-place finishes, his impressive record designates him the horse to beat. Gio Ponti most recently earned a 103 Beyer Speed Figure as runner-up to stablemate Winchester in the Grade 1 Woodford Reserve Manhattan Handicap on June 5.

“As a trainer, you get very excited when you train a horse as good as he is and you go into Grade 1 races, because he just trains so well and you know he’s so good,” said trainer Christophe Clement. “So for me, and for my crew at the barn, it’s very exciting to run that kind of horse. We are lucky to be involved with that kind of horse.”

Despite Gio Ponti’s winless stretch, his conditioner is fully confident going into the Man o’War.

“I’m very happy and the horse is doing very well,” Clement said. “I had a question mark on his fitness going into the Manhattan last time, which I don’t have anymore. He had a small break after the Breeders’ Cup because we brought him back to full work earlier in the year to make the race at Tampa as a prep race for Dubai. He’s lacked a bit of racing luck in some of his races, and also it’s a question of competition. When you get to that level, you run against the best.”

After running second to Zenyatta in the Breeders’ Cup Classic over Santa Anita’s synthetic surface on November 7, Gio Ponti was off until a second-place finish in the February 20 Tampa Bay Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs, which he used as a prep for a fourth-place effort in the Group 1, $10 million Dubai World Cup at Meydan Racecourse on March 27.

Gio Ponti will have regular rider Ramon Dominguez in the irons as he breaks from the outside.

A game third in the Woodford Reserve Manhattan, Gary and Mary West’s Expansion will return in the Man o’War for another shot against Gio Ponti. Expansion was awarded a Beyer Speed Figure of 101 for his wide, late-running move in that race and has rebounded nicely from the effort according to trainer Chad Brown.

“He was wide the whole way in the Manhattan and still came with a good run,” said Brown. “I monitored him closely after the race to make sure it didn’t knock him out, it was a career race for him, but the way he’s acting, I think he’s right back to where he was right before the Manhattan. I think what I’ve learned about him is that he’s a better horse once you kind of race him fit – the only race he really didn’t fire for us was the first off the layoff at Gulfstream [this winter.]”

Previously trained by Kiaran McLaughlin, Expansion came to Brown’s barn late last year and won his first outing for his new trainer in the Grade 2 Red Smith Handicap at Aqueduct Racetrack on November 7. After three months off, he was fifth in the Grade 2 Mac Diarmida at Gulfstream on February 28 and fourth in the Grade 2 Elkhorn at Keeneland on April 23.

Expansion gets the services of Javier Castellano from post position 4.

The 7-year-old veteran Grand Couturier, second to Expansion in the Red Smith, will also start Saturday. The son of Grand Lodge finished sixth in the Grade 3 Fort Marcy in his first start of the year, then seventh after traffic trouble during the stretch run of the Woodford Reserve Manhattan.

“We had some trouble in the race, but it wasn’t as drastic as people have made it out to be. It just showed that he was running, which is nice,” said trainer Bobby Ribaudo. “Other than Gio Ponti, it’s a wide open race.”

Grand Couturier gets a rider change to Rajiv Maragh, as Alan Garcia is committed to ride elsewhere that afternoon, and the pair will break from post 6.

Also returning from the Woodford Reserve Manhattan are ninth- and tenth-place finishers Interpatation and Strike a Deal. Interpatation looks for his first win since an upset of Gio Ponti in a rainy edition of the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational at Belmont on October 3; while Strike a Deal won the Grade 2 Dixie at Pimlico on the Preakness Day undercard May 15 at Pimlico Race Course.

Stepping up in the Man o’War is Midnite Silver, who exits a 1 ¼-mile turf allowance win at Belmont on June 2 for owners Robert Hoyer and David Weaver. A 4-year-old son of Silver Deputy, the colt has two wins, one second-place finish and one fourth from four starts this year.

“The distance suits him and he closed fast in his last race to win,” said trainer Carl Domino. “He’ll need to run his best race, and you never know how a race will come up – I just hope everything comes up right for us on Sunday. At this moment, everything is right.”

Ian Wilkes will saddle Bearpath, runner-up in the Grade 3, 1 ½-mile Louisville Handicap on May 22 for Lothenbach Stables. The New York-bred Mission Approved – seventh in the 2008 edition of the Man o’War – completes the field.

The field for the Grade 1, $600,000 Man o’War: