On Saturday at Oaklawn Park, the stakes action will begin in the seventh race with the 29th running of the $300,000 Azeri Stakes. The Grade 2 race, carded at a mile and a sixteenth, has drawn a field of six fillies and mares.
Untapable, the reigning champion three-year-old filly, tops the field as the morning line favorite at odds of 1-2 for trainer Steve Asmussen. Bred and owned by Winchell Thoroughbreds, the four-year-old daughter of Tapit has won eight of her eleven career starts and closed out her sophomore season with a victory in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1). She has been training steadily for her first start of the year and will have John Velazquez aboard from the rail.
Second choice at morning line odds of 4-1 is Mufajaah for trainer Daniel Peitz. Purchased for $375,000 as a yearling, the chestnut daughter of Tapit has won five of her twelve starts, four of which came at Oaklawn Park. She enters this race off of back to back victories at Oaklawn and was last seen winning the Bayakoa (G3) in February as the favorite. Emmanuel Esquivel will be back aboard and they will break from post position five.
Also in the field at morning line odds of 5-1 is Flashy American for trainer Ken McPeek. A six-year-old daughter of Flashy Bull, the graded stakes winning mare has won eight total starts over the course of her career. She is trying to move forward after a runner-up effort behind Mufajaah in her first start of the season last time out. Chris Landeros, her regular rider, will be in the irons and they are scheduled to break from the outside post.
The field is set for the $1 million Haskell, where Nyquist will be trying to re-stake his claim as the top three-year-old in the country.
On Sunday at Monmouth Park, the featured race is the $300,000 United Nations Stakes. Scheduled to be run at a mile and three-eighths on the turf, the Grade 1 event has drawn a field of ten colts and geldings.
On Sunday at Monmouth Park, the featured race is the $150,000 Pegasus Stakes, a key prep race for the Haskell Invitational (G1). The Grade 3 event will be contested at a mile and a sixteenth and has drawn a field of seven three-year-olds.
With five grade 1 races and a grade 2, the undercard for the June 11 Belmont stakes could be the best single day of racing on the calendar outside of the Breeders’ Cup.
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