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Big Everest seeks threepeat in Listed $150K Artie Schiller

by Christian Abdo

Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, Steven Rocco and William Branch’s Big Everest seeks a threepeat in Saturday’s Listed $150,000 Artie Schiller, a one-mile inner turf test for 3-year-olds and up, at Belmont at the Big A.

Trained by Christophe Clement, the 6-year-old The Gurkha gelding, who won this event in 2022, defended his title last year after a fourth in the 1 1/16-mile Listed Oceanport in August at Monmouth Park. Once again, Big Everest enters from a fourth in the Oceanport on August 16, defeated two lengths by returning foe St Anthony.

“He is an absolutely nice horse,” Clement said. “He loves Aqueduct and has been successful in this race, so, let’s go.”

Big Everest was piloted to his previous Artie Schiller scores by Hall of Famer Joel Rosario, but Kendrick Carmouche will be aboard from post 4 as Rosario rides at the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar including the back-to-back Grade 1-winner Far Bridge for Clement.

“He is not the easiest horse to ride, but Kendrick Carmouche gets the mount and we will go from there,” said Clement. “There have been no ideal races, but he is doing well and we’ve been waiting for this race forever.”

The British-bred Big Everest is 19-9-1-2 all-time with a 5-for-6 record at the Big A, including an additional stakes score in the Listed Danger’s Hour last April.

Magic Cap Stables’ Fort Washington [post 2, Eric Cancel] seeks his second stakes victory of the year after taking the nine-furlong Grade 3 Monmouth in June at Monmouth Park in a dead-heat with returning rival Running Bee.

Trained by Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey, the 5-year-old son of War Front enters from a fourth in the local nine-furlong Grade 3 Knickerbocker on October 13. He has breezed back once, covering a half-mile in 49.42 seconds on Saturday on the Belmont Park dirt training track.

“He worked by himself. He went good, 49 and change,” McGaughey said of the move. “He went off in 13, finished up in 36 and change. I think he’ll be fine.”

Bred in Kentucky by Joseph Allen and White Birch Farm, Fort Washington is out of the group placed Turtle Bowl mare Azaelia.

Calumet Farm’s Grade 3-winner Running Bee [post 5, Dylan Davis], who earned that title in the aforementioned Monmouth dead-heat with Fort Washington, drops in class after a fourth in the Grade 1 Turf Mile on October 5 at Keeneland.

Trained by four-time Eclipse Award-winner Chad Brown, the 5-year-old English Channel horse boasts a 3-for-4 record in the Empire State, including a 1 1/2-length score in the 1 1/16-mile Listed Bernard Baruch on September 1 at the Spa.

Both the Baruch victory and Turf Mile fourth earned a career-best 97 Beyer Speed Figure, which also represents the field-high - though Big Everest and Fort Washington do have 96s to their names.

John Bowers, Jr.’s New Jersey homebred He’spuregold [post 1, Luis Rivera, Jr.] has been ultra-consistent for trainer Kelly Breen, hitting the board in his last four starts including Monmouth wins in the Red Bank in September the state-bred Irish War Cry Handicap in July.

The 6-year-old Vancouver gelding enters from a third in the one-mile Carey Memorial Handicap on September 29 at Hawthorne. The Schiller will mark He’spuregold’s first trip to Aqueduct, but not New York - he went to Saratoga and Belmont Park in 2021, missing the board in the Grade 3 Saranac and Grade 2 Hill Prince, respectively.

Sky’s Not Falling [post 6, Jorge Ruiz], a R. Larry Johnson Maryland homebred co-owned with R. D. M. Racing Stable, will also venture to the Big A for the first time in his 35-race career. Trained by Michael Trombetta, the 6-year-old Seville gelding enters from a nose defeat in the nine-furlong restricted Maryland Million Turf on October 12 at Laurel Park.

While Sky’s Not Falling’s last stakes score came in the Maryland Million Turf Sprint in December 2022, horseplayers may want to note the success that Trombetta had shipping into NYRA-turf stakes with Future Is Now, who captured Saratoga’s Grade 2 Intercontinental presented by MTV Solutions and Listed Smart N Fancy.

Rounding out the field is Alice Bamford’s Kentucky homebred St Anthony [post 3, Javier Castellano], the aforementioned 9-1 winner of the Oceanport in a field that included re-opposing He’spuregold and Big Everest. Trained by Hall of Famer Neil Drysdale, the 5-year-old Noble Mission gelding ran last-of-eight in this event last year after a win in the Red Bank at Monmouth.

St Anthony looks to avenge his last Schiller performance and add to other stakes scores in the 2022 Robert Dupret Derby at Santa Rosa and the Alcatraz at Golden Gate Fields.

Film Star is entered for the main track-only.

The Schiller is slated as Race 4 on Saturday’s stacked 11-race card, which also features the Listed $150,000 Nashua in Race 2, the Listed $150,000 Tempted in Race 10 and the $135,000 Stewart Manor in Race 8. First post Saturday is 11:20 a.m. Eastern.

The Big A will be open to the public from 10:30 a.m. until 9 p.m. on Saturday so racing fans can watch and wager on the simulcast of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships from Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, California. Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup program is headlined by the Grade 1, $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic.

The Breeders’ Cup World Championships kicks off on Friday, November 1 with five races on its Future Stars program, highlighted by the Grade 1, $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Aqueduct will host a nine-race card Friday at Belmont at the Big, featuring the $135,000 Atlantic Beach in Race 8. First post Friday is 12:40 p.m. with the property open for simulcasting from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

America’s Day at the Races will present live coverage and analysis of the Belmont at the Big A fall meet on the networks of FOX Sports. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule/.

NYRA Bets is the official wagering platform of Belmont at the Big A, and the best way to bet every race of the fall meet. Available to horse players nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.