McPeek looks to double up in G1 Belmont Derby Invitational with Mendelssohns March
At 11h59, on July 7, 2023 • By BELMONT PARK
Harold Lerner, Nehoc Stables, AWC Stables and Team Stallion Racing Stable’s stakes-placed Mendelssohns March will be upset minded in Saturday’s Grade 1, $750,000 Belmont Derby Invitational, a 10-furlong inner turf test for sophomores.
Trainer Kenny McPeek won this event last year with 26-1 shot Classic Causeway, who posted a gate-to-wire score over favored Nations Pride and second-choice Stone Age. This year, he returns with the improving Mendelssohns March, who enters from a close runner-up effort to returning rival Webslinger in the nine-furlong Audubon on June 3 at Churchill Downs.
The Mendelssohn colt graduated on debut in February via disqualification traveling one-mile over firm Fair Grounds turf. He made his next two starts on dirt, winning an optional-claimer at Oaklawn in March over sloppy and sealed conditions before finishing sixth in the Grade 1 Blue Grass at Keeneland. Mendelssohns March returned to grass in May and finished ninth in the Grade 2 American Turf when defeated 4 3/4-lengths by Webslinger.
“He’s coming off a really good run. We know it’s a tough race, but we think he’s going to like the added distance,” McPeek said. “He’s acting like he’s quite ratable. He started his career really well, 2-for-2. This is an ambitious spot for him, we realize that, but you’re not going to get many opportunities to run a mile and a quarter.”
The $110,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase is out of the Galileo mare Unappeased, who is a half-sister to Grade 1-winner Sligo Bay.
McPeek said Mendelssohns March, who will exit the inside post Saturday under Dylan Davis, has trained very well upstate at Saratoga Race Course over the Oklahoma trainer turf, working in company with Walking L Thoroughbreds and Three Chimneys Farm’s promising filly Freydis the Red.
