News and STORIES

Sir Winston Resumes Racing In Flat Out At Belmont

Author: Don Mckee
Published: Tuesday June 09, 2020
Tracy Farmer's Sir Winston, winner of the Belmont Stakes (G1), will top the field of nine older horses in the June 11, $80,000 Flat Out Stakes. The race at Belmont Park will cover a distance of 1 3/8 miles.

The Flat Out will be Sir Winston's first start since making his 4-year-old debut on Jan. 31 in a one-mile allowance-level test. He took that race by 2 1/4 lengths at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Change in Schedule

The Awesome Again colt was supposed to head overseas to run in the Dubai World Cup Sponsored by Emirates Airline (G1) in March, but the race was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

According to trainer Mark Casse, the Flat Out will prepare Sir Winston for other races later this summer. He has been constantly training at the Belmont track. 

"He's doing well now, he's happy, the distance won't hurt him, and we all know that he loves Belmont. We're just trying to get started," said Casse.

The colt will break from post 4 in the Flat Out under jockey Joel Rosario. 

Competition in the Flat Out

There will be some tough challengers in the Flat Out coming in the forms of Todd Pletcher's Legit, Moretti, and You're to Blame. 

Bortolazzo Stable's You're to Blame holds a career record of 6-6-4 in 27 starts with earnings of $657,178. The 6-year-old son of Distorted Humor made the graded level in the September 2018 Greenwood Cup (G3) at Parx Racing. 

You're to Blame also finished second last year in the 1 1/4-mile Pimlico Special (G3). He will break from post 8 under jockey John Velazquez. 

Repole Stable's Legit is a 5-year-old son of Curlin. He will go beyond 1 1/16-miles for the first time in the Flat Out.

Legit graduated at first asking in April 2018 at Gulfstream Park by 7 1/4 lengths, and he went on to take a four-length score in May of the same year at Pimlico.

After missing all of his 4-year-old season, Legit has three starts so far in 2020, including a second-place finish on May 17 at Gulfstream in an optional-claiming mile in his latest start. Legit will break from post 5 under Irad Ortiz Jr. 

Repole Stable and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners' Moretti graduated in December 2018 at Aqueduct. He went on to finish off-the-board in the Withers Stakes (G3). 

The 4-year-old Medaglia d'Oro colt is out of grade 1 winner Rigoletta and is a half-brother to the 2017 Las Vegas Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) winner Battle of Midway. Moretti will break from post 3 under Javier Castellano.

Centennial Farms' Rocketry is a 6-year-old son of Hard Spun and will start his season in the Flat Out. Trained by Jimmy Jerkens, Rocketry took a long-distance victory in September 2018 in the Temperance Hill at Belmont, where he set a track record of 2:40.18 for 1 5/8 miles, beating the record previously held by Man o' War.

Following that effort, Rocketry made the grade in the Marathon Stakes Presented by TAA (G2) at 1 3/4 miles in November 2018 at Churchill Downs. Rocketry will break from post 2 under Jose Ortiz. 

Barbara Hutnyk's Adventist is the 2019 Greenwood Cup winner and winner of the Bernardini Stakes at the Big A. Adventist will break from the outside post under Manny Franco for trainer Uriah St. Lewis. 

Other contenders in the race include Prompt (post 1, Junior Alvarado), Expert (post 6, Jose Lezcano), and Blugrascat's Smile (post 7, Eric Cancel).

The Flat Out is set as Race 9 on the card and has a post time of 5:36 pm ET.