Future stars meet in the Champagne at Aqueduct on Saturday

By NY Hot List staff | Thursday, October 3, 2024

The Grade 1, $500,000 Champagne Stakes at Aqueduct on Saturday drew a field of ten 2-year-olds. The one-turn mile is part of the Belmont at the Big A meeting and offers a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on November 1 and qualifying points [10-5-3-2-1] for the May 3 Kentucky Derby.

The race is a tough one to handicap with a pair of graded-stakes winners from Saratoga in the Sanford (G3) and the Hopeful (G1) facing six horses that got a maiden special weight victory in their only start.

The 6-5 morning line favorite Chancer McPatrick is unbeaten in two starts including the Hopeful at Saratoga for Chad Brown and Flavien Prat. The son of McKinzie, who sold for $725,000 at auction earlier in the year, is one of four experienced horses in the Champagne field.

“Oh, he learned plenty,” Brown said. “Both of his starts, he’s had to persevere through some trouble, tangled breaks, and some dirt in his face. He ran like an older horse. I’m pretty impressed with him.”

The $500,000 Champagne (G1) at Saratoga, Saturday, Race 8, 3:49 pm ET.

(6) Vekoma Rules (A) won his debut at Aqueduct three weeks ago by five lengths at 4-1 for a trainer that is doing well at this meeting. Vekoma Rules is one of six impressive debut winners in the field. (10) Chancer McPatrick is one of two graded stakes winners in this field and the only Grade 1 winner which happened in the Hopeful (G1) at Saratoga. The horse that finished second will be one of the favorites in the Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland. Trainer Chad Brown won the Champagne four times since 2016. (2) Tip Top Thomas won his first start for Todd Pletcher at Saratoga as the 2-1 favorite when he pressed the pace and won a stretch duel by a head. Pletcher also has four victories in this race. Irad Ortiz opted to stay on this guy after riding Uncaged first time out also.  (5) Uncaged is the “other” Pletcher and will come with better odds than his stablemate. He was also a maiden winner during the Saratoga meeting.

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