Gainesway Stable’s homebred New York-bred Horse of the Year looks for second Grade 1 victory in Friday’s Just a Game at Belmont Park. Benoit Photo

A strong team led by 2022 New York-bred Horse of the Year and multiple divisional champion Spendarella is set for the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Belmont Park.

Seven New York-breds were entered in stakes over the Festival, including a group of five on Saturday’s Belmont Stakes Day undercard.

Gainesway Stable homebred Spendarella leads off Friday when she bids for her second Grade 1 victory in the $500,000 Just a Game Stakes for older fillies and mares. The 4-year-old daughter of Karakontie, crowned New York-bred Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old filly and turf female at last month’s NYTB Annual Awards Dinner in Saratoga Springs, takes on In Italian and three others in the 1-mile turf stakes.

Trained by Graham Motion, Spendarella is the 2-1 second choice under Tyler Gaffalione for the Just a Game coming off a runner-up finish to Fluffy Socks in the Grade 2 Distaff Turf Mile Stakes on the Kentucky Derby undercard May 6 at Churchill Downs. Spendarella hadn’t been out since winning the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks Aug. 20 at Del Mar, but Motion was pleased enough with the filly’s comeback and recent training to return to the Grade 1 ranks.

“I thought she was very tenacious. It’s tough to come back from that kind of a layoff against that kind of company,” Motion said. “Since then, she’s worked well. She breezed well last week and we went easier on her in her last work. It was a good work and I’ve been pleased with her.”

Spendarella breezed 5 furlongs in a bullet 1:00 on Fair Hill’s synthetic track June 2.

“In her last race, I was initially a little disappointed that she was second because she was training really well,” Motion said. “But looking at it now, it was the best figure that she’s run and she’s done well since the race. Hopefully, having a race will help her moving forward.”

The Just a Game goes as the third race Friday, with post time at 2:28 p.m. ET.

Cross Border, winner of the 2021 Bowling Green at Saratoga, returns to the flat for Friday’s 2-mile Belmont Gold Cup. NYRA Photo.

Friday’s card also features the flat-racing return of Cross Border, who runs in the Grade 2 Belmont Gold Cup Stakes going 2 miles on the grass.

Bred by Berkshire Stud and B D Gibbs, the 9-year-old English Channel ridgling made a transition to steeplechase racing last fall for owner Three Diamonds Farm and trainer Keri Brion. After a third in a 2-mile flat race run under steeplechase conditions – carrying 148 pounds – he pulled up in a maiden race at the Steeplechase of Charleston meeting in mid-November. He returned this spring with a victory in a restricted maiden race going 2 1/16 miles over jumps before a fourth in a $25,000 ratings hurdle handicap at the Queen’s Cup Steeplechase in Mineral Springs, North Carolina.

Cross Border made his way back to trainer Mike Maker’s barn this spring and comes into the Gold Cup with three works on the Belmont training track.

“He’s the same old Cross Border. He’s a sound, hickory horse,” Maker said. “It looks like a tough spot to make his comeback, but we’ll see.”

Cross Border and jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. are 12-1 on the morning line in the field of 13 for the Gold Cup, with Godolphin’s 8-5 favorite Siskany, the German-bred mare Amazing Grace and Joseph O’Brien-trained High Definition leading the group. The Gold Cup goes as the 10th race at 5:47 p.m.

Maker also sends out the newly minted Grade 1 winner Red Knight in Saturday’s Grade 1 Resorts World Casino Manhattan Stakes, which could be the Pure Prize gelding’s 13th victory and third in four starts this year.

Red Knight, dubbed “stronger than jailhouse coffee” by trainer Mike Maker, takes on international cast in Saturday’s Grade 1 Manhattan at Belmont. Janet Garaguso/NYRA Photo.

Bred and raced by Tom Egan’s Trinity Farm, Red Knight won the Grade 1 Man o’ War Stakes May 13 at Belmont Park after a hard-luck second in the Grade 2 Elkhorn Stakes at Keeneland and a win on Pegasus Day in the Grade 3 William L. McKnight Stakes at Gulfstream Park. Red Knight, who is 5-for-11 on the grass at Belmont, is 8-1 in the 10-furlong Manhattan with Gaffalione named to ride.

“He’s doing super,” Maker said. “He’s stronger than jailhouse coffee. I’d like him to get a ground-saving trip and fire home like he normally does.”

The Manhattan goes as the 11th race with post time set for 5:54 p.m.

Reddam Racing’s Today’s Flavor leads off for the New York-bred contingent on Belmont Day in the Grade 2 True North Stakes, which goes as the third race at 12:29 p.m. ET. Bred by Joseph Calvo, the 5-year-old son of Laoban exits a victory in the Affirmed Success Stakes April 30 at Aqueduct after a solid fourth in the Grade 1 Carter Handicap 22 days prior.

Trained by George Weaver, Today’s Flavor makes his first appearance at Belmont Park in the 6 1/2-furlong True North against last year’s champion sprinter Elite Power and Grade 3 Count Fleet Sprint runner-up Strobe.

“He’s maintained good form and trains well, like he has for the last two months,” Weaver said. “We’re looking forward to taking on a tougher race.”

Today’s Flavor is 5-1 on the morning line with Manny Franco taking the return call.

A trio of longshots looks to upend Grade 1-winning mare Caravel and defending champ Casa Creed in the Grade 1 Jaipur Stakes on the Belmont Day card.

Last year’s Lucky Coin winner Thin White Duke (5) is part of big field for Saturday’s Grade 1 Jaipur. Susie Raisher/NYRA Photo.

Winning Move Stable’s and Sanford Robbins’ Mid Day Image, the winner of his last three starts; and Thin White Duke, winner of last year’s Lucky Coin Stakes at Saratoga for owners Phil Gleaves, Steven Crist and Ken deRegt, are each 30-1 for the 6-furlong turf stakes.

Bred by Patricia Generazio and now trained by David Jacobsen, Mid Day Image won his two starts this year going 5 ½ furlongs on the turf at Laurel Park and at 6 furlongs on the grass at Belmont. Kendrick Carmouche takes the mount on Mid Day Image.

Bred by Gleaves and trained by David Donk, Thin White Duke seeks his first win in three tries this season. He comes off a fourth in the Elusive Quality Stakes going 7 furlongs on the grass May 6 at Belmont. Javier Castellano rides the 5-year-old son of Dominus.

Richies World Stable’s Surprise Boss, fifth in the Elusive Quality for trainer Rafael Romero last time out, is 50-1 on the morning line from post 14 in the Jaipur. Bred by Blue Chip Bloodstock and War Dancer LLC, the 4-year-old son of War Dancer finished on the board in a division of the New York Stallion Series last spring at Belmont and third in the Grade 3 Quick Call Stakes last summer at Saratoga. Trevor McCarthy takes the mount on Surprise Boss.

The Jaipur goes as the ninth race on the Belmont Day card, with post time at 4:19 p.m.

The FOX Sports family of networks will present expansive coverage and analysis of Saturday’s Belmont Stakes Day card beginning with “America’s Day at the Races” on FS1 at 11 a.m. Coverage then shifts to FOX, where “America’s Day at the Belmont” and “Belmont Day on FOX” will air from 3 to 7:30 p.m.

Friday’s card will air from 12:30 to 5 p.m. on FS2, from 5 to 6 p.m. on FS1 and back on FS2 from 6 to 6:30 p.m.

The Belmont Stakes Racing Festival’s Thursday card has been canceled due to poor air quality conditions on Long Island. The Grade 2 Wonder Again and Jersey Girl Stakes will be re-drawn as part of Sunday’s card, joining the Astoria and Tremont.

Battle Station, upset winner of the 2020 Lucky Coin at Saratoga, died Sunday at Belmont Park. Chelsea Durand/NYRA Photo.

Three-time stakes winner Battle Station reportedly suffered injuries to his left hind leg in a workout Sunday at Belmont Park and had to be euthanized.

The 8-year-old New York-bred gelding by Warrior’s Reward suffered a comminuted pastern fracture, a lateral condylar fracture and a medial sesamoid fracture as he neared the end of his workout, according to Daily Racing Form. Battle Station was transported from Belmont to the nearby Ruffian Clinic but could not be saved.

“His injuries were a little worse than Barbaro’s,” Dr. Don Baker told the Form. “Because the pastern was so badly fractured, you couldn’t do a joint-fusion surgery.”

Bred by Lansdowne Thoroughbreds, Battle Station was out of the unraced Unbridled mare Uriel. A half-brother to five winners, Battle Station originally sold out of the Kearney Park consignment as a weanling for $50,000 to Ken and Sarah Ramsey at the 2015 Keeneland November breeding stock sale.

Battle Station started his career for the Ramseys and trainer Wesley Ward. He won his debut in August 2017 at Saratoga Race Course and followed that with a victory in the Bertram F. Bongard Stakes at Belmont Park. He later placed in a Churchill Downs allowance-optional and earned a finalist nod for champion 2-year-old New York-bred male.

Battle Station returned to New York for Ward and the Ramseys at 3 and finished fourth in the Damon Runyon Stakes in January 2018 before a victory in the Rego Park Stakes in February, both at Aqueduct. He earned finalist consideration that season for champion 3-year-old New York-bred male.

Battle Station changed hands via the claim box or transfer a few times, including a late August 2020 switch to Rob Atras before he won the Lucky Coin Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. Battle Station placed in the Grade 3 Parx Dash Stakes and Laurel Dash Stakes in 2021 and the Say Florida Sandy Stakes and King T. Leatherbury Stakes in 2022. He was also a finalist for New York-bred champion turf male and champion sprinter honors in 2020 and 2021.

Dominick Schettino claimed Battle Station for $45,000 for Sal-Lou J G Stable out of a sixth-place finish in a 6-furlong turf allowance-optional April 27 at Aqueduct. He had also been claimed for the same price in his prior start, a seventh in a similar allowance-optional in mid-November at Aqueduct, by Winning Move Stable and trainer Linda Rice.

Battle Station compiled a record of 9-10-6 in 53 starts, earning $745,475.

Bankit continues his legendary career with second straight victory in the Commentator on Monday’s Big Apple Showcase Day program at Belmont Park. Susie Raisher/NYRA Photo.

By Tom Law and Paul Halloran

Bankit made his ninth appearance on a New York-bred Showcase Day program Monday at Belmont Park and came away with his eighth stakes victory in the headlining $200,000 Commentator Stakes.

The 7-year-old son of leading New York sire Bankit closed the star-studded Big Apple Showcase Day card with a determined victory in the co-featured Commentator. Bankit skipped over a muddy track to win the 2021 Commentator by 13 1/4 lengths. He won the 2023 renewal by a head under Joel Rosario over a determined Olympic Dreams with Sherriff Bianco third and Dr Ardito fourth in the field of 12.

Campaigned by Winchell Thoroughbreds and Willis Horton Racing LLC and trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, Bankit improved to 9-12-6 in 40 starts and boosted his earnings to $1,406,405 in the Commentator. Bankit also moved up to 28th on the list of all-time leading New York-bred earners, just ahead of fellow legend Mr. Buff ($1,403,536) and just behind another in Win ($1,408,980).

Bankit also became a stakes winner for the sixth straight season, going back to his victory at 2 in the Sleepy Hollow Stakes on Empire Showcase Day in 2018 at Belmont Park. He also won last year’s Commentator on Big Apple Showcase Day and has placings in six other Showcase Day appearances – 2018 Funny Cide, 2019 Mike Lee and Albany, 2020 Commentator and Empire Classic and 2022 West Point. The 2021 victory in the Commentator helped propel Bankit to the champion New York-bred older dirt male title.

Dismissed as the 5-1 third choice behind 5-2 favorite Ouster in his stakes debut and 5-2 second choice Dr Ardito looking to rebound from a fifth in the Grade 3 Westchester, Bankit and Rosario settled into fourth early as Sea Foam set the pace. Sea Foam clicked off strong fractions of :22.88, :46.28 and 1:10.55 in the 1 1/16-mile Commentator, which had been run at 1 mile in Bankit’s other appearances.

Bankit (white cap) readies for the stretch run in Monday’s Commentator Stakes at Belmont. Dom Napolitano/NYRA Photo.

Rosario put Bankit four paths off the fence around the far turn and took command from Sea Foam in the lane. Bankit led by a half-length at the eighth pole, with 27-1 longshot Olympic Dreams to his inside and Sheriff Bianco making a run while getting to the outside. Bankit held it together inside the final yards to win in 1:43.01.

“As soon as he took the lead, he waited on horses a little bit,” Rosario said. “Then I just had to keep riding and hopefully he would get ahead of them. That’s the way he runs, I guess.

“It set up good and I kind of had to ride him a little bit, engage him a little and keep him in the race so he didn’t pack himself in there. I got a good trip and was able to come out and he went on. It looked like we were home and going to win by a couple, but he likes to just wait a lot when he passes the last horse.”

Toby Sheets, Asmussen’s New York-based assistant, handled the saddling about an hour after the stable celebrated a comeback victory by Eclipse Award winner Echo Zulu in the Grade 3 Winning Colors at Churchill Downs.

Bankit has trained at Belmont since last September, not long after the Saratoga meet, and Sheets sensed something big again from the horse Monday.

“He was doing really well. He does so well here,” he said. “He has a routine. He rolls in the round pen and all that good stuff. He can get a little on the muscle in the morning, but he’s very manageable. It was a great run from him and a good ride by Joel.”

Bred by Hidden Brook Farm LLC and Blue Devil Racing and foaled at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds in Saratoga Springs, Bankit is the first foal out of the Colonel John mare Sister in Arms. He originally sold out of the Hidden Brook consignment to SGV Thoroughbreds for $85,000 at the 2017 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred yearling sale.

Bankit was purchased by Winchell Thoroughbreds for $260,000 at the 2018 OBS March sale of selected 2-year-olds in training sale.

Central Banker, a 12-year-old Grade 2-winning son of Speightstown, stands for $7,500 at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds. Central Banker topped the New York general sire list in 2022 and 2021, after a runner-up season in 2020. He led the 2023 list by a comfortable margin heading into Monday’s Memorial Day racing programs.

Classy Edition rolls into the stretch en route to victory in Monday’s Critical Eye on Big Apple Showcase Day at Belmont Park. Dom Napolitano/NYRA Photo.

• They call it Big Apple Showcase Day and, while it is a card for the entire New York breeding program to bask in the spotlight, it is common for a horse who has run at the highest levels of open company to return to the state-bred ranks for a relatively easy payday.

That happened in the Critical Eye Stakes last year, when Make Mischief, who had multiple in- the-money finishes in graded stakes, rolled to a 4-length win. And that was the case Monday, when Classy Edition, a winner of the Grade 3 Royal Delta Stakes at Gulfstream in February, looked like a winner every step of the way after overcoming a stumble out of the gate.

The final margin in the $200,000 stakes was 2 1/4 lengths for the 4-year-old daughter of Classic Empire out of the Bernardini mare Newbie.

“She stumbled a little bit, but she recovered quickly,” winning jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. said. “She put me in a beautiful position and I was biding my time there. When I asked her to go, she responded very well. It worked out perfect to be honest.”

After the misstep, Ortiz guided Classy Edition to the outside for an unobstructed trip down the backstretch. Venti Valentine broke second and set the pace through a quarter-mile in :23.87, with Let Her Inspire U second on the rail and Classy Edition sitting chilly on the outside. Ortiz made his move on the turn, getting to the front while barely asking his filly for run.

Once the field straightened for home, Ortiz offered mild urging and Classy Edition responded in kind, opening a 1 1/2-length lead at the stretch call and maintaining a comfortable advantage to the wire. The winning time was 1:42.82 over the fast track, with Sterling Silver second and Timeless Journey third.

“The outside filly Venti Valentine showed some speed and can be a little keen,” Ortiz said. “I was looking to break and try to relax, and if I could sit second outside of her, that would have been perfect. It worked out perfect because before we were 100 meters out, I was in the position I wanted to be in.”

Classy Edition, bred by Chester and Mary Broman and foaled at their Chestertown farm, sold for $550,000 out of the Sequel Bloodstock consignment at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May sale of 2-year-olds in training, with bloodstock agent Jacob West signing the ticket for Robert and Lawana Low. She is a half-sister to multiple New York-bred stakes winner Newly Minted and the stakes-placed New Girl In Town.

Newbie is also the dam of unraced New York-bred American Pharoah colt Pharoah Lake and a yearling New York-bred colt by Vekoma bred by the Bromans. She produced the unraced Speightstown mare Colonizer, who sold for $150,000 at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred yearling sale. The Bromans bought back Colonizer, in foal to Omaha Beach, for $150,000 at the 2022 Keeneland November breeding stock sale.

The Bromans bought Changeisgonnacome, carrying Newbie, for $320,000 at the 2008 Keeneland November breeding stock sale. Bred in Virginia by Audley Farm, that mare won the P.G. Johnston Stakes at Saratoga and was third in a Grade 2 stakes at Belmont. All five foals of her foals to race were winners.

Classy Edition started her career with three straight wins against New York-breds, including the Joseph A. Gimma and the Key Cents for 2-year-old fillies. She then ran five straight times in open company, with a placing in the 2022 Grade 2 Davona Dale and this year’s Royal Delta win her best showings. Trainer Todd Pletcher swung for the fences in the Grade 1 La Troienne on the Kentucky Oaks undercard, but she finished last of 10, making the move back to a state-bred stakes logical.

“She shipped in (from Churchill Downs) in good form and her energy level has been great,” said Pletcher assistant Byron Hughes. “She has a good coat and is a very classy filly, very consistent, and a pleasure to train.”

Co-owner and breeder Michael Dubb shows Marvelous Maude some love after her victory in the Mount Vernon on Big Apple Showcase Day at Belmont Park. Susie Raisher/NYRA Photo.

By Tom Law and Paul Halloran

Slumber’s strong spring continued during Monday when his daughter Marvelous Maude collected her first stakes victory in the $125,000 Mount Vernon Stakes on the Big Apple Showcase Day card at Belmont Park.

Owned by Michael Dubb, The Elkstone Group and Michael Caruso, Marvelous Maude won the 1-mile Mount Vernon in her first start since finishing fourth in the Oct. 30 Ticonderoga Stakes on Empire Showcase Day. She also became Slumber’s second stakes winner on the season, along with Fluffy Socks, winner of the Grade 2 Longines Churchill Distaff Turf Mile on the Kentucky Derby Day undercard.

Dubb bred Marvelous Maude through his Beechwood Bruckner LLC and named her after Maude Walsh, the former hospitality manager for the New York Racing Association who also worked as the paddock host for Breakfast at Belmont and during morning workouts at Saratoga Race Course.

Dubb and partners also campaigned Slumber, who stands for $7,500 at Rockridge Stud in Hudson, late in his career and before he entered stud in 2017.

“I raced the mare and I remember she ran a 91 Beyer so she was kind of fast,” Dubb said after Marvelous Maude won the Mount Vernon. “The timing was such that we had retired Slumber to Calumet (in Kentucky). I had a few breedings, so I tried breeding Wait Your Turn to Slumber. A couple years went by and no one was breeding to Slumber and Calumet was getting ready to geld the horse.

“I showed Chad [Brown, trainer of Marvelous Maude] a picture of the baby who is now Marvelous Maude and he sent it to Calumet, and they decided not to geld Slumber after all. That is how Slumber became a stallion in New York. They were very close to gelding him and it was a picture of Marvelous Maude that saved him from being gelded.”

Marvelous Maude won a photo finish in the Mount Vernon, edging Runaway Rumour on the last jump to win by a nose. She improved to 5-for-12 in the turf stakes and the $68,750 first-place check boosted her bankroll to $374,500.

Irad Ortiz Jr., who rode Classy Edition to victory in the Critical Eye on the Showcase Day card, rode Marvelous Maude. They closed from fourth through the first 6 furlongs in 1:10.20 over the firm turf, before following moves at the lead by Sanura and then by Runaway Rumour.

“Her style is not to run like that, but the track has been playing for the speed,” Ortiz said. “It was 1-mile flat and I think she’s much better going a mile and a sixteenth or a mile and an eighth. So, I had to ride her to try to win and give her the best chance to win. I was a little closer. I moved a little early and was wide, too. She still got there. She’s a nice filly. That’s not her style of running, but she got it done.”

Marvelous Maude is the first foal out of Wait Your Turn, who is also the dam of the winning 4-year-old Freud filly Jet Set Juliet and the unraced 3-year-old Freud filly Phillipsburg Mike. Dubb sent Wait Your Turn back to Slumber in 2021 and 2022 and she’s now the dam of a yearling filly by the sire and another filly by the sire born April 19.

Marvelous Maude won the Mount Vernon in her fourth stakes appearance and in her first start of 2023. She finished sixth in the Grade 2 Flower Bowl at Saratoga, second in the John Hettinger against New York-breds at Aqueduct and fourth in the Ticonderoga at Aqueduct in her final three starts of 2022, races that came after back-to-back wins on the grass in allowance company at Belmont and Saratoga.

City Man slips past Jerry the Nipper for his first victory on Belmont’s turf in Monday’s Kingston Stakes on Big Apple Showcase Day. Chelsea Durand/NYRA Photo.

• It was hard to find a blemish on the resume of accomplished New York-bred City Man heading into Monday’s Kingston Stakes on Big Apple Showcase Day, but there was the matter of his record at Belmont Park: 0-10 overall and 0-6 on the turf, where he excels.

Make that 1-11 and 1-6.

Sent off as the 3-5 favorite in the stakes race named for a horse that won 89 times in 138 starts from 1885-93, City Man needed every bit of the 8 1/2 furlongs to record his inaugural Belmont victory. Trapped behind a wall of three horses on the far turn, jockey Joel Rosario opted not to swing to the far outside, instead waiting until the last possible second for a small opening that allowed him to take City Man to the middle of the course.

From there it was simply a matter of whether he could run down Jerry the Nipper, who was given a perfect ride by Jose Ortiz, sitting off 46-1 longshot Rinaldi for about 7 furlongs before taking the lead just after they straightened for home. He looked like a winner until City Man got loose and in full stride and beat him by a nose. A fast-closing Dakota Gold ran third.

“The track is playing fast and those horses aren’t coming back like they were,” said Dean Reeves, who owns City Man with Peter and Patty Searles and also Dakota Gold. “He couldn’t come inside so I’m glad that Joel brought him outside. He really kicked in and it looked like he hesitated a little bit and then got on with it. Dakota Gold was coming on strong, too. I was really happy with both horses.”

Rosario had City Man in sixth on the inside down the backstretch and into the turn. Sitting behind the two leaders – and forming the de facto blockade – were Ocala Dream on the hedge, Citizen K in between and Somelikeithotbrown on the outside. The way it turned out, if Rosario had opted for the overland route, he may not have gotten up. The winning time was 1:39.46.

“He was ready and as soon as I said, ‘Go,’ he was there for me,” Rosario said. “For a second, I thought the horse in front of me (Jerry the Nipper) was going to keep moving and he made it a little hard for me to pass him. It seems like the track was a little speed-favoring and he took his time today, but he finished really well.”

The 6-year-old City Man won his ninth stakes and improved his career record to 10-5-4 from 29 starts. The $68,750 winner’s share increased his career earnings to $1,079,870, good enough for 52nd among all New York-breds.

“He’s a fun horse who wins a lot; I like it,” winning trainer Christophe Clement said. “He always finishes well. Joel did his job. I train, he rides. This horse always finishes strongly. The choices a couple weeks ago, we were either training for this race or the Grade 1 Manhattan (June 10). Obviously, this is a much easier race than the Manhattan and it’s nice to go back to winning ways. We can be a little more ambitious with him next time.”

City Man was in the second crop of 2013 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Mucho Macho Man, also owned by Reeves Thoroughbred Racing. Out of the City Zip mare City Scamper, he was bred by Moonstar Farm and sold for $20,000 as a weanling in 2017. Two years later he went to Reeves for $185,000 at the OBS April sale of 2-year-olds in training.

City Scamper is the dam of six-figure New York-bred earner Go Kelly Go and the Laoban colt El Mayor, who has earned $71,767. City Scamper also produced a New York-bred colt by Hoppertunity in 2020; Miss City Girl, a 2-year-old full sister to City Man who has not yet raced; and a yearling filly by Vino Rosso.