Plenty of stakes at Belmont on Memorial Day weekend

By NY Hot List Staff | Thursday, May 26, 2022

The Memorial Day weekend will bring a stakes buffet to New York racing fans with a package of eight stakes spread over the course of Saturday through Monday. Kicking it off on Saturday is the Soaring Softy Stakes, a Grade 3 turf test for 3-year-old fillies at seven furlongs. A solid field of 13, including a main track only entrant, was entered with most of New York’s top turf trainers well-represented. Christophe Clement will send out three starters, with Chad Brown, Graham Motion, Bill Mott, and Wesley Ward having one each.

Here’s the Hot List picks for the Soaring Softly Stakes:

The $100,000 Soaring Softly (G3) – Belmont Park, Saturday, Race 9.

(8) Haughty will make her 2022 debut for Chad Brown after a 2-year-old campaign that began at Belmont Park when she crossed the finish line in first but was disqualified and placed third at odds of 9-1. High odds like that indicate that the field for that race must have been strong. She was then an odds-on favorite when she officially broke her maiden a Keeneland in October. In the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1) she finished third, less than a length behind the winner Pizza Bianca. (9) Derrynane is one of the fillies from the Clement barn. She was a close fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G2). In her first race of this year, she missed a stakes win by a neck at Keeneland. (12) Chardy Party was a winner at first asking for Wesley Ward at Keeneland last month for Stonestreet Stables. (11) Ouraika is trained by Graham Motion and is a Grade 3 winner at Santa Anita in a turf sprint on the downhill course in February. She tried a distance of ground last time at Keeneland and now cuts back at a more suitable distance.

The rest of the NY Hot List picks and the Special Saturday Pick 3 are available free of charge at this website.