Saratoga Picks | Hall of Fame Stakes 2024

Red White and Blue Racing’s dual Grade 3-winner Neat looks to take it up a notch in Friday’s Grade 2, $500,000 National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame, a one-mile inner turf test for sophomores, at Saratoga Race Course. 

The Hall of Fame is slated as Race 9 on Friday’s 10-race program which also features the Grade 2, $400,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Oaks Invitational in Race 8. First post is 1:10 p.m Eastern. 

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Trained by Rob Atras, the Constitution chestnut enters from a three-quarter-length stalking score over Grade 3-winner Deterministic in the one-mile Grade 3 Manila on June 29 at Belmont at the Big A. In victory, Neat notched his second win at the level after capturing the 1 1/16-mile Transylvania in April over good Keeneland turf. 

In the Transylvania, Neat prevailed after he was keen early and had to be taken back by jockey Reylu Gutierrez. He exited to an off-the-board finish in the 1 1/16-mile Grade 2 American Turf on good Churchill Downs green before rebounding in the Manila under returning rider Junior Alvarado. 

“He’s developed mentally and physically. Since he’s been in training early last summer, he’s just gone from a boy to a man,” said Atras. “He’s gotten bigger and stronger, and his last race at Aqueduct was a much more professional effort.”

Neat has remained at Belmont Park since his last-out victory, completing weekly half-mile breezes over the dirt training track, including in 49.47 seconds on July 21. 

“He came out of the race really good and we’re happy with his training,” Atras said. “His energy level is good, his weight is good, just his whole demeanor altogether. Sometimes we’ve had to ship him around but down in Belmont, it’s a short ship up to Saratoga.”

In another venture outside the Empire State, Neat made a winning seasonal debut in the Texas Turf Mile over yielding footing in January at Sam Houston Race Park. 

Bred in Kentucky by Hidden Brook Farm and Spruce Lane Farm, Neat was a $200,000 purchase at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale and is out of the unraced More Than Ready mare Orabella, who also produced dual graded stakes-placed Louder Than Bombs. 

Alvarado will look to engineer another winning trip from post 4. 

Qatar Racing’s Army Officer [post 8, Frankie Dettori] returns to the site of a last-out optional claiming score at the distance on June 7 during the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival. Trained by dual Eclipse Award winner Brad Cox, the Not This Time dark bay has hit the board in all five sophomore efforts, including a fourth-out graduation going one-mile in March on the Turfway Park synthetic.

In his last-out victory, Army Officer bested a 12-horse field that featured multiple graded stakes-placed Spirit Prince, along with Hunt Ball and Pirate, half-brothers to 2023 Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile 1-2 finishers Cody’s Wish and National Treasure, respectively. 

“He ran well here against I thought a solid group Belmont Week,” said Cox. “He’s been here since, training on the turf and with what he’s been able to do as a 3-year-old, I think it is time to give him an opportunity at the stake level.”

Army Officer, out of the Uncle Mo mare Worth a Chance Mo, was a $475,000 purchase at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale.

Trainer Cherie DeVaux will saddle Zverev [post 3, Jose Ortiz] for his graded stakes debut for owners Belladonna Racing, Peachtree Stable, Twin Brook Stables and West Point Thoroughbreds. The Oscar Performance bay added blinkers for his sophomore season, most recently capturing a 1 1/16-mile allowance on June 20 at Churchill and earning a career-best 87 Beyer.

“I think he’s in good form. The horse is pretty immature,” said DeVaux. “He seems to be growing out of some of that. He wears blinkers, which I definitely think are a factor.”

Zverev worked a bullet half-mile in 48.22 seconds on July 21 over the Oklahoma dirt training track, fastest-of-27 workers at the distance. He covered the same course in 50.22 on Saturday.

Zverev, a $330,000 purchase at the OBS Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training is out of the multiple Grade 1-winning Thunder Gulch mare Balance. His second dam, Vertigineux produced Hall of Famer Zenyatta. 

Three Diamonds Farms’ graded stakes-placed filly Buttercream Babe [post 2, Irad Ortiz, Jr.] will attempt to beat the boys for trainer Mike Maker. The Twirling Candy bay has made her last two efforts at the distance against females, including a local optional-claiming triumph on June 8 ahead of a rallying second in the Horseshoe Indianapolis Handicap on July 13 at its namesake oval. 

Last year, Buttercream Babe was a close second in the Grade 3 Surfer Girl before an off-the-board result in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf– both one-mile events in the fall at Santa Anita Park. 

Out of the stakes-placed Mr. Greeley mare Runway Ready, Buttercream Babe was a $180,000 purchase at the 2023 OBS Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training. 

Rounding out the Saratoga field are:

• The dual graded-stakes placed Lagynos [post 5, Cristian Torres] for Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen
• Stakes-winner Please Advise [post 1, Flavien Prat] who runs as a first-time gelding for conditioner George Weaver
• Florida-bred stakes winner Crystal Quest [post 6, Javier Castellano] for trainer Michael Trombetta
• The Will Walden-conditioned Barksdale [post 7, Ramon Vazquez] making his turf debut