Extensive, competitive field for Van Clief * The Racing Biz

The winners of the last two editions of the Da Hoss Stakes at Colonial Downs, plus the title defender in the Van Clief, Headline Saturday $ 150,000 of Clief Stakes, a 5 1/2 Furlong Turf Dash for 3-year-olds and up.

A deep and completed 13-horse field has a whole series of winners of Stakes, including a Breeders’ Cup Race Victor and a horse on a $ 1 million eve in career income.

The main point of the line-up is Nobals (3-1, Jockey Jareth Loveberry, trainer Larry Rivelli), the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint Hero. The earner of almost $ 1.8 million is prepared for this with a solid third in the $ 250,000 Kentucky Downs Preview Turf Sprint. Rivelli used Colonial as a springboard to the Breeders’ Cup in ’23, when Nobals took the Da Hoss less than two months before his large score with a head.

Colonial grass shape also runs deep with Isivunguvungu (8-1, John Velazquez, Graham Motion), a group of 1 caliber South African import that the 2024 Da Hoss has caught and returns in search of his first victory since that score. Nothing better (8-1, Luis Saez, Jorge Duarte Jr.), second in the Da Hoss last year, is another pure speed threat, a five-time winner of the effort that just missed in the Wolfheuvel of Monmouth Park.

The field also includes the Razor-Sharp Longshot Bear River (30-1, James Graham, J. Keith Sormeaux), who has taken two of his last three peat interests, including the Kentucky Downs Preview Turf Sprint, which he won near 17-1.

In that match he aimed Coppola (9-2, Vincent Cheminaud, Dale Romans) and Nobals in a tight finish. Coppola, an ultra-quick in disaster horses that approaches an income of $ 1 million, is always dangerous when he can roll early.

The defensive of Clief Champion Witty (6-1, Jaime Rodriguez, Elizabeth Merryman) returns for a new crack about the title and numbers to run too late, while the 4-year-old horsepower (15-1, Javier Castellano, Joseph Orseno) ships in Stakes Stakes Stakes ises Stakes is’s stakes Stakes Stakes improves. Other contenders are Step Forward (6-1, Mychel Sanchez, Mark Casse), third in last year’s grade 2 Highlander, and versatile veteran had him (10-1, Tyler Gaffalione, John E. Salzman Jr.), most recently third in the Ben’s Cat.

This year’s Van Clief is one of the most competitive and intriguing peat sprints on the calendar and an ideal stepping stone in the direction of the richest short distance prices of the fall.