10/11/19
Saturday’s Floral Park at Belmont Park could produce a Breeders’ Cup runner
By New York Hot List Staff
The $100,000 Floral Park at Belmont Park on Saturday is a race with possible Breeders’ Cup implications. The six-furlong turf sprint could send it is winner to Santa Anita to run in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.
The field of eight includes the 7-5 morning line favorite Goldwood who will ship to Belmont from her home base at Colts Neck Stables near Monmouth Park in New Jersey while riding a five-race winning streak in stakes at Laurel and the Jersey Shore track. Trainer Jorge Duarte Jr. has the 5-year-old entered at Keeneland but is likely to run closer to home.
“We’re leaning toward Belmont,” Duarte said. “I just hope that there is no more rain for the next few days. As long as it stays clear we will run there for sure. She tends to like the turf firm. She won over a good turf at Monmouth [in the Incredible Revenge on August 10] but she prefers it to be firm.”
Duarte also feels that his Medaglia d’Oro mare has a chance to qualify for $2 million Turf Sprint.
“We added up the possible contenders, with World of Trouble now retiring, and I don’t know if we’ll get in since we won a lot of [non-graded] stakes,” said Duarte. “We hope for a good performance and [the Breeders’ Cup] is on the radar.”
The 5-2 second choice in the Floral Park is Fire Key who won this race last year. The Jim Ryerson trainee has shown a strong preference for sprinting at Belmont Park where she has a career record of 9: 4-3-0.
“I think that three-quarters is close to her best distance,” Ryerson said. “Five to five and a half [furlongs] is a little bit tough for her. Three-quarters seems to hit her right in the head and really helps her. The turns are a little wider here which also helps her. We’re excited about running her here this weekend.”
Mominou, who is the 7-2 third choice, was last seen winning the Caress at Saratoga in July as a big longshot. Trainer Jimmy Toner brings her back off a nearly three-month layoff.
“She was training well and I thought she would run well, but the fact of the matter is I didn’t think she’d be that big of a price,” Toner said. “The favorite was Morticia and we ran against her at Gulfstream and were only a length behind her, so I didn’t see why we were 30-1. She broke well, made the lead and that was it. She’s doing really well, we’ve freshened her up since then, and she’s been training great.”
The Floral Park, which is carded as race 7 on the Saturday card with post time scheduled for 4:07 pm ET, is also the middle race in the New York Hot List Special Saturday Pick 3, which last weekend paid $42.25.
Full analysis of the Floral Park, the rest of card, and the Saturday Special Pick 3 from the New York Hot List is available free of charge on this website.