John Pricci

While the after-glow of a thoroughly enjoyable and highly contentious Belmont Stakes -- in which a young race-rider showed skill and intelligence beyond his years and conjured up thoughts of more bright lights ahead -- remains, time has come to shift focus. Thoroughbred racing’s second season begins on Saturday when older horses from every division finally begin warming to the national spotlight.

Fittingly, the site where it all starts is Churchill Downs, where the performance of the year by a 3-year-old only six weeks ago helped captivate the nation but tomorrow will showcase six added-money events of every stripe. Two, the Grade 1 Stephen Foster Handicap and the Grade 2 Fleur de Lis, will comprise half the NTRA National Pick 4 wager that includes the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps from Belmont Park and the Grade 2 Californian from Hollywood. All races will be shown live as a two-hour national broadcast beginning at 5 p.m. EDT.

In recent years, Churchill’s Foster has become one of this country’s preeminent handicap events. Tomorrow it will showcase the resurgent 4-year-old Buzzards Bay, impressive winner of the G3 All American and G2 Oaklawn Handicap in his last two starts by an aggregate margin of 10-½ lengths. Major rivals are Brass Hat, the G1 Dubai World Cup runner-up last time out, and the hard-hitting veteran Perfect Drift, whose 11-10-6 slate from 37 starts is responsible for over $4.3 million in lifetime earnings.

While the Foster is the linchpin of the National Pick 4, the sequence begins with the Ogden Phipps, a mile and a sixteenth for older fillies and mares at Belmont Park, followed by the nine furlong Fleur de Lis, also for fillies and mares and at Churchill Downs, the Foster, then ends with the nine furlong Californian at Hollywood Park.

The Foster was to mark the seasonal debut of last year’s Travers winner and Breeders’ Cup Classic runner-up Flower Alley, but that start will be put on hold until next week when the 4-year-old returns from an almost seven-month layoff in the Grade 2 Salvator Mile at Monmouth Park.

“We lost about a week of training and ran out of time to have him ready for a grade one,” explained trainer Todd Pletcher by phone from Belmont Park. “I thought it might be too much, too soon. We wanted a fresh horse for the fall with our obvious goal being the Breeders’ Cup Classic. [If all goes well] we’ll run him in the Whitney and Woodward at Saratoga, then once, possibly twice more, before the Breeders’ Cup.”

Pletcher will not be sitting on the sidelines, however. The defending double Eclipse champion has entered five races Saturday at Churchill, site of Breeders’ Cup 23 on Nov. 4, and will start West Virginia in the Foster. But it’s the Fleur de Lis that’s uppermost in his thoughts, having entered both Oonagh Maccool and La Reason. This tandem most recently finished first and second in the Louisville Breeders’ Cup Handicap. The well traveled and prolific Happy Ticket, partnered with the nation’s leading rider, apprentice sensation Julien Leparoux, is the main rival.

Pletcher has compared Irish import Oonagh Maccool favorably to the best horse he’s ever trained, champion filly Ashado. “Since we switched her to dirt, she’s been perfect. After an impressive allowance we put her in the Rampart and she won. Her last victory in the Louisville Breeders’ Cup on Oaks day was her most impressive so far.

Slide show   Week in Sports Pictures Flying on the hardwood, racing on the rink, getting physical on the gridiron, and much more. more photos

“We think she has the potential to be as good as we’ve ever had. She’s at the top of her game right now, is training well, and we expect her to run well. Her only weakness is at the gate but we’ve been working on it and we hope she breaks a little better than she has,” said Pletcher.

Pletcher, like mentor Wayne Lukas never seems to run out of fillies, will start recent Apple Blossom winner Spun Sugar in the Phipps. Her noted tactical speed and style very much suits a one-turn mile and a sixteenth. The highweight at 120 pounds, Spun Sugar will receive challenges from both in front and from behind. Impressive Shuvee Handicap winner, Florida invader Take D’Tour (117), will try to make it two straight on the Belmont surface while Tom Albertrani trainee Balletto (116) will try to improve on her recent strong-finish try and promises once again to do her best running late.

Because of the defection of West Coast-based Buzzards Bay to the Foster, the Californian appears the most wide open of the four and will serve as the final leg in the sequence. It has drawn a field of modest talent despite its Grade 2 status, the most accomplished of which is Preachinatthebar from the high-profile Mike Pegram-Bob Baffert connections.

The ink on the Belmont Stakes result chart hardly has had sufficient time to dry. But the road to the Breeders’ Cup starts now.

MORE FROM HORSE RACING

Racing's Year of the Girl

Racing's Year of the Girl Zenyatta beats the boys in Breeders’ Cup Classic Quality Road bucks violently, scratched from Classic Conduit repeats as $3M BC Turf champion Long shot Furthest Land wins BC Dirt Mile Goldikova wins 2nd straight BC Mile Vale of York stuns at 30-1 in BC Juvenile Dancing in Silks pulls shocker in BC Sprint California Flag cruises to win in BC Turf Sprint Pounced wins Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf   Add Horse racing headlines to your news reader: