Top Older Dirt Males face off in the Woodward at Belmont Saturday

New York Hot List Staff | Friday, October 1, 2021

A field of six older dirt males, which includes five graded stakes winners, was drawn for Saturday’s $500,000 Grade 1  Woodward at Belmont Park. The top choices in the morning line are Maxfield [7-5], Code of Honor [5-2], and Art Collector [3-1]. The Woodward will be run at 1 1/8 miles around one-turn.

Maxfield was last seen chasing Knicks Go in the Whitney at Saratoga going the same nine-furlongs, but he’ll change to one-turn for trainer Brandon Walsh.

“I think it suits him if anything,” Walsh said. “He should love the sweeping turns here. He seems to run his turns very well, which is probably the strongest part of his races. A big horse like him with a big stride on him, I can’t see why it wouldn’t be to his advantage more than anything.”

Code of Honor is the winner of the 2019 Travers (G1). He completed a comeback from a seven-month layoff to win the Iselin (G3) at Monmouth Park for trainer Shug McGaughey.

“He’s training as good as he could – as good as I’ve ever seen him,” McGaughey said. “I think two turns is probably better, but the mile and an eighth is fine. I think the way he’s training right now, he’s sharp and he’ll be laying in the right spot to wait and make a move.”

Art Collector moved to the barn of Bill Mott, who has three past wins in the Woodward, and has victories in his last two races.

“He looked good and smooth in his last work,” said Mott. “He’s made no mistakes so far. He looks great and the horse is doing very well. We’re very pleased with him.”

Here are the Hot List picks for the Woodward:

The $500,000 Woodward (G1), Belmont Park, Saturday, Race 10. (3) Art Collector is back to his best form since moving to Bill Mott’s barn this summer. The son of Bernardini returned to his winning ways with first-place finishes in the Alydar at Saratoga and then the Charles Town Classic (G2), both races were run at the nine-furlong distance of the Woodward. He is a horse that is streaky, as last year he won four in a row as a 3-year-old. (2) Maxfield deserves to be the favorite and is the most likely winner, but his only two career losses came this year in Grade 1 races. That could make him just a bit vulnerable. (5) Code of Honor loves Belmont Park where he has a record of 6: 3-2-1 which includes victories in the 2019 Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) and the 2020 Westchester (G3). (6) Forza Di Oro had a three-race winning streak broken when he finished third in this year’s Jockey Club GC after setting the pace. The second Mott runner in the field has 2 out of his 4 wins at Belmont.

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