Nine fillies and mares are set to contest the $150,000 Iroquois Stakes Saturday, October 18 at Belmont Park in a six and a half furlong sprint race on the main track.
Favorite La Verdad (7/5) is taking a major class drop for trainer Linda Rice after competing admirably against grade 1 and grade 2 competition in each of her last three starts. The four year-old daughter of Yes It’s True just missed becoming a grade 2 winner last out in the Gallant Bloom at Belmont. La Verdad held a four length lead in the stretch, but was beaten a head by grade 1 winner Artemis Agrotera. La Verdad is probably best-suited for six furlongs, but her class and early lick will make her a difficult foe for her Iroquois rivals.
Willet (9/5) finished third in the Gallant Bloom after making a powerful closing move, and is the most likely challenger to La Verdad. Willet, a six year-old daughter of Jump Start has three wins, two second, and two thirds in eight lifetime starts at Belmont. Willet enters the race in good form having hit the board in each of her last five starts – including a third place finish in the grade 1 Ballerina two starts back.
Risky Rachel (6/1) has enough speed and ability to muddle the pace picture in the Iroquois. Is she is sent from the gate aggressively by jockey Cornelio Velazquez, she could take away some of La Verdad’s starch and set the table for Willet’s closing move.
Royal Ascot is one of the greatest race meets in the world, and there is no race as historic or exciting during the meet than the Gold Cup (G1)! First run in 1807, it is one of the premier races for stayers in the world. The two-and-a-half-mile turf race offers a rich £500,000 purse, and it drew ten of the world’s best long-distance horses.
The Prince of Wales’s Stakes is one of the most important races of the Royal Ascot meeting! With a £1 million purse, the race is one of the richest of the entire week, and it also offers its winner a guaranteed berth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf.
The 2022 Belmont Stakes, which will be run on Saturday, June 11, drew an exciting field of eight to compete for $1.5 million and a place in horse racing immortality. Several familiar New York horses will line up for the race, including Wood Memorial (G2) winner Mo Donegal and Peter Pan (G3) winner We the People.
The best horses in the older dirt male division line up for the $3 million Pegasus World Cup on Saturday, January 29 at Gulfstream Park! The race is at a mile and an eighth on the main track, an intermediate distance that draws both Classic runners and milers alike. Nine horses have passed the entry box, and are ready for a thrilling renewal of the winter’s biggest race!
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