Ghislaine Head’s Right One, who last raced over Keeneland’s Polytrack, returns to grass racing when he takes on seven rivals in the Jaipur Stakes (gr. IIIT) at seven furlongs June 8 at Belmont Park. Winner of last year’s Jaipur, the son of Anabaa signaled that he had lost none of his firepower when he finished a strong third in the Commonwealth (gr. II) at Keeneland April 14 in his first start of the year.
“He’s been training well,” trainer Christophe Clement said. “I think he had a nice prep race.”
Right One defeated Yield Bogey in the final jump in last year’s Jaipur and then finished third behind Turallure and Courageous Cat in the Ricoh Woodbine Mile (Can-IT) before tailing off the remainder of the year. He breaks from post five under Julien Leparoux.
Yield Bogey also will give it a try in the Jaipur, named for George D. Widener’s homebred 1962 Belmont Stakes winner. The Fox Ridge Farm runner has not raced since the Nearctic and last won two years at Belmont. The son of Langfuhr is 8-1 in the morning line and will break from post 2 under Edgar Prado.
Bergerac, who finished second in the Commonwealth, is the 5-2 second choice in the Jaipur. The 5-year-old son of Rahy was claimed for $80,000 at Gulfstream Park two races back by current owner Paul Pompa.
“He comes in off a little layoff and not by design,” said trainer Chad Brown said. “He missed an overnight race that got rained off the turf, so he missed his prep. He’s an older horse with plenty of career starts under his belt, though, so at this age he maintains his fitness.”
Bergerac will be ridden by Javier Castellano from post position 7.
Boots Ahead, owned by Agnes Peace, will be stepping down from 1 1/16 miles. The son of Storm Boot finished fourth in the Fort Marcy (gr. IIIT) at Belmont last time out and hasn’t won since scoring at Saratoga last July.
The remainder of the field consists of Leave of Absence, Upgrade, Shintoh, Senor Dehere, and Ponzi Scheme. The last-named will run only if the race is switched to the main track.
$150,000 Jaipur Stakes (gr. IIIT, Race 9, 5:10 p.m. EDT) 3-Year-olds and up, seven furlongs turf.
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer Odds
1 Leave of Absence A Garcia 118 R A Violette, Jr 10-1
2 Yield Bogey E S Prado 118 P J Kelly 8-1
3 Boots Ahead E Castro 120 G Weaver 5-1
4 Upgrade J R Velazquez 118 M Nihei 6-1
5 Right One J R Leparoux 122 C Clement 2-1
6 Shintoh R Maragh 118 H A Jerkens 12-1
7 Bergerac J Castellano 118 C C Brown 5-2
8 Senor Dehere R A Dominguez 118 H G Motion 15-1
9 Ponzi Scheme E Trujillo 124 J Serey 6-5
Ponzi Scheme--Main Track Only