Adam Coglianese Photo

Messier returns in G3 Forty Niner

by Keith McCalmont

Multiple graded stakes-winner Messier returns from a nearly six-month layoff in Saturday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Forty Niner, a one-turn mile for 3-year-olds and up, at Belmont at the Big A.

Trained by Rick Dutrow, Jr. for owners SF Racing, Madaket Stables, Lansdon Robbins, III, Tom J. Ryan, Robert E. Masterson, Jay A. Schoenfarber, Waves Edge Capital, Catherine Donovan, Golconda Stable and Siena Farm, the 5-year-old Empire Maker bay was last seen posting a prominent three-quarter length score here on May 3 in the one-mile Grade 3 Westchester. The runner-up of that event, the multiple graded stakes-winner Post Time, went on to hit the board in a pair of Grade 1s at Saratoga Race Course when second in the Hill ‘n’ Dale Metropolitan Handicap and third in the Whitney.

Messier [post 2, Jose Gomez, 126 pounds] began his career with Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, taking the 2021 Grade 3 Bob Hope at Del Mar and Grade 3 Robert B. Lewis at Santa Anita Park in February 2022. He was conditioned by Tim Yakteen for a runner-up effort in 2022 Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby ahead of a 15th-place finish in that year’s Grade 1 Kentucky Derby.

He was winless in two starts as a 4-year-old and joined the Dutrow, Jr. stable for a strong effort in the nine-furlong Listed Excelsior here in March where he crossed the wire first under returning rider Jose Gomez but was deemed to have impeded runner-up Laughing Boy at the three-sixteenths pole and was subsequently placed second following an inquiry.

Gomez returned to the irons for the Westchester and pressed the pace two-wide before taking command through three-quarters in 1:09.80, skating clear by three lengths at the stretch call. The favored Post Time closed rapidly but Messier had enough left to secure the win in a final time of 1:34.50 and earn a 97 Beyer Speed Figure.

The victory marked the first graded stakes win for Gomez, who began riding in 2021 and won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Apprentice Jockey in 2022.

“They gave me a shot back in the Westchester and he got it done,” Gomez said. “He's got that fighting spirit in him. It's the sort of thing you can't teach. Some of them have got it - and he's definitely got it.”

Messier required time off for surgery to have a chip removed from his knee following the Westchester and returned to the work tab on August 15 at Belmont Park where he has worked extensively over the dirt training track, including a pair of bullet half-mile breezes on October 2 [46.80] and October 8 [47.08].

“He does it very handily. He's a big, long-striding horse and it comes very natural to him,” Gomez said. “Good horses don't need much company, and he does everything great. As you see in the races, he can set pretty quick fractions in the afternoon, too. You let him do his own thing. That's how he likes doing it, so we let him tell us what he likes to do. He's a classy horse and classy horses can do it all.

“Rick does such a great job with them, and he gives them time when they need it,” added Gomez. “He's been training great and I'm very excited for him to be back.”

Bred in Ontario by Sam-Son Farm, Messier was a $470,000 purchase at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearlings Showcase. He is out of the multiple stakes-winning Smart Strike mare Checkered Past, with his third dam being 2000 Canadian Champion 3-Year-Old Filly Catch the Ring.

Coleswood Farm’s dual graded stakes-placed West Virginia-homebred Coastal Mission [post 7, Arnaldo Bocachica, 124 pounds] will look to make the grade in his sixth attempt for trainer Jeff Runco.

The 5-year-old Great Notion bay has banked $954,153 through a 24-13-5-1 record and arrives from a half-length score over returning rival Repo Rocks in the Listed Parx Dirt Mile on September 21 at its namesake track.

Coastal Mission has made three previous trips to the Big A, finishing fifth in the 2023 Grade 2 Cigar Mile Handicap, fourth in the one-mile Listed Stymie in March and second in the seven-furlong Grade 2 John A. Nerud in July when 1 1/2-lengths back of next-out Grade 1 Forego winner Mullikin.

Double B Racing Stables’ multiple graded stakes-winner Repo Rocks [post 1, Ruben Silvera, 122 pounds] is also closing in on millionaire status with the 6-year-old Virginia-bred Tapiture gelding boasting a 42-10-9-7 record for purse earnings of $963,046.

Trained by Jamie Ness, Repo Rocks enjoyed a 6-4-1-0 2023 campaign that includes NYRA-circuit wins in the Grade 3 Toboggan and Listed Stymie as well as a runner-up effort in the Grade 1 Carter Handicap here at the Big A to go along with a 5 1/4-length score over Zandon in the Grade 3 Westchester at Belmont Park.

Repo Rocks did not return to the winner’s circle until six starts later when taking a state-bred allowance in August at Colonial Downs ahead of a game runner-up effort in the aforementioned Parx Dirt Mile.

Nelson Avenue [post 6, Dylan Davis, 122 pounds] will look to go from claim to fame as he makes his stakes debut.

Trained by Wayne Potts for Photos Finish, the 5-year-old Into Mischief gelding was haltered for $40,000 out of a fifth-place finish in a six-furlong sprint on August 8 at Saratoga. He returned 10 days later to capture a seven-furlong $50,000 claiming sprint at the same track by 1 1/4-lengths over Floki’s Flight, who has won back-to-back races here since with impressive frontrunning scores for trainer Linda Rice.

Potts then stretched Nelson Avenue out to a one-turn mile in an optional-claiming event last out and the bay responded with a frontrunning 1 1/4-length score that registered a career-best 94 Beyer.

“When we claimed him, I actually really liked him. I thought the further he would go, the better he would be, just because I think his tactical speed will take him a long way,” Potts said. “He doesn’t have to be in front, he can sort of rate a little bit. The horse has been training lights out. I’m not sure that we are a Grade 3-quality horse, but we are going to give it a whirl.

“It is for sure beneficial that he’s run over this track here,” Potts added. “The horse is doing great, and we will see what happens. We will find out where we are after this race.”

Nelson Avenue made his first 10 starts for trainer Michael Stidham, posting optional-claiming scores in 2022 at Fair Grounds and in May at Horseshoe Indianapolis. He was purchased for $65,000 at the Fasig-Tipton May Digital Selected Sale and was claimed from his second start for conditioner Nader Moubarak.

Nelson Avenue, bred in Kentucky by Godolphin, is out of the winning Street Cry mare Via Strata, who is a half-sister to graded stakes-winners Lucullan and Innovative idea. His third dam is the multiple graded stakes-winning Storm Cat mare Caress.

Rounding out a talented field are graded stakes-placed Film Star [post 8, Irad Ortiz, Jr., 124 pounds] for trainer Linda Rice, who, on Saturday, secured her 2,511th career win to become the winningest female trainer of all time; graded stakes-placed Stage Raider [post 3, John Velazquez, 122 pounds] for trainer Cherie DeVaux; graded-stakes placed Jefferson Street [post 4, Flavien Prat, 118 pounds, blinkers ON] for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott; and four-time winner Winit [post 5, Kendrick Carmouche, 122 pounds] for conditioner John Kimmel.

The Forty Niner is slated as Race 8 on Saturday’s 11-race card which also features the Grade 2, $250,000 Mother Goose in Race 10 and the Grade 3, $175,000 Bold Ruler in Race 7. First post is 12:10 p.m. Eastern.

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/.

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