Here is your convenient guide to all of the Virginia-connected runners this weekend at Belmont!
Friday
Enchanting Lady
Owned by Northern Virginia-based Kaleem Shaw, this 3-year-old Tale of the Cat filly runs in the Jersey Girl Stakes. Winner of the Santa Paula Stakes at Santa Anita this year and the Landaluce Stakes at that same venue last summer, she is making her second East Coast start after a ninth-placed finish in the Grade III Eight Belles at Churchill on Derby Day.
Cat Tree
Running in the Treemont Stakes, this Discreet Cat 2-year-old is coming off of an impressive maiden win at Churchill last month. Owned by PTK, Cat Tree was bred in Kentucky by new Middleburg, VA resident Jim Fitzgerald. Jim and his wife moved to Virginia over the winter and foaled 14 mares in Virginia this spring.
Diplomat
Owned and trained by Jimmy Day, this son of Kitten’s Joy will contest the Belmont Gold Cup Invitational with an eye towards repeating the victory he scored in this year’s Carolina Cup.
Saturday
V.E. Day
Virginia-owned V.E. Day winning over Virginia-raised Wicked Strong in the Grade I Travers. Photo courtesy Chelsea Durand.
Owned by Maggie Bryant, the 4-year-old son of English Channel hopes to get back to the winning ways of 2014 that saw him in the winner’s circle for the Grade I Travers and the Curlin Stakes at Saratoga. He competes in the Grade II Brooklyn Invitational.
Sky Kingdom
Also contesting the Brooklyn is another Jim Fitzgerald-bred. This 6-year-old son of Empire Maker is coming off of a win in the Grade III Tokyo City Cup Stakes (a race that he also won in 2013).
General A Rod
General A Rod winning the Gulfstream Park Derby. Photo courtesy Leslie Martin.
Contesting the Grade I Knob Creek Manhattan Stakes is this Hare Forest Farm-bred colt (Ann and Dick Poulson). The 4-year-old son of Roman Ruler won the Challenger Stakes at Tampa in March and enters this race off of a fifth-placed finish in the Grade II Charles Town Classic Stakes.
Noble Moon
Ned Evans-bred Noble Moon dominated the Grade II Jerome on January 4, 2014. Photo Courtesy Adam Coglianese.
In what could prove to be one of the most exciting races of the day for Virginians, the Grade I Metropolitan will see five different VA-connected horses enter the starting gate. Ned Evans-bred Noble Moon hopes to recreate his victory in the Grade II Jerome at Aqueduct last year. He enters this race off of a second-placed finish in allowance company at that venue.
Wicked Strong
Wicked Strong defeated Grade I winner Tonalist, also raised in Virginia, in the Grade II Jim Dandy at Saratoga. Photo courtesy Adam Coglianese.
Broken and trained early at Centennial Farms in Middleburg—and part-owned by Maggie Bryant—last year’s Grade I Wood winner last saw the winner’s circle in the Grade II Jim Dandy. He comes into this race off of a third-placed finish in the Grade III Excelsior at Aqueduct.
Honor Code
Honor Code winning the Gulfstream Park Handicap. Photo courtesy Kenny Martin.
This classy son of A.P. Indy is part-owned by Virginia Racing Commission chairman Sarge Reynolds. Winner of the Grade II Gulfstream Park Handicap in March, Honor Code was last seen finishing fifth in the Grade II Alysheba at Churchill on Derby Day.
Tonalist
Grade I Belmont winner Tonalist winning the Grade II Peter Pan by 4 lengths. Photo courtesy Chelsea Durand.
You remember this Woodslane-bred (Lauren and Rene Woolcott) and Virginia-raised colt for his victory in the Grade I Belmont at this venue last year. The son of Tapit just won the Grade III Westchester Stakes at Belmont on May 2, his only start of 2015.
Bayern
This son of Offlee Wild enters the gate for Virginia owner Kaleem Shah on the heels of a sixth-placed finish in the Grade II Churchill Downs Stakes—but you remember him for his victory in last year’s Grade I Breeders’ Cup Classic. Bred by Helen Alexander, the 4-year-old also won last year’s Grade I Haskell.