Hot trainer brings Arch Cat to Belmont Park for the Grade 3 Bold Ruler on Saturday
Hot trainer brings Arch Cat to Belmont Park for the Grade 3 Bold Ruler on Saturday
By the NY Hot List Staff // Friday, October 30, 2020
Trainer Danny Velazquez won the first two stakes races of his career when he was victorious twice last Saturday in the Empire Showcase at Belmont Park. Now Velazquez will ship Arch Cat to New York for the first time to try and win a graded stakes race in the seven furlong $100,000 Grade 3 Bold Ruler.
Arch Cat was claimed for $16,000 at Parx Racing back in June 2019 and since then has won 6 out of 14 races. The 6-year-old gelding has a career record of 37: 13-3-12 with earnings of $363,485.
Velazquez is careful with Arch Cat’s training and the spots that he selects for racing.
“He’s a horse that came with some bumps and bruises,” said Velazquez. “It wasn’t an equipment change but more of maintenance control with him. A light training program is good for him. He’s an older horse.”
Arch Cat has two wins and a third in allowance races since a layoff that was caused by the COVID-19 track closures.
“He’s as fast as anybody,” said Velazquez. “Tactically, he could be second or third off of any pace. I love the seven-eighths distance for him, I think that’s really his cut.”
Here are the Hot List picks for the Bold Ruler:
The $100,000 Bold Ruler (G3), Belmont Park, Saturday, Race 9.
(2) Share the Ride may be the lone speed in the seven furlong Bold Ruler (G3) as he tries that distance for the first time. Manny Franco stays on board after they ran second in the Vosburgh (G2) behind Firenze Fire. Prior to that he was a stakes winner at Monmouth in a race that earned the highest speed figure for this field. (4) Arch Cat will ship to Belmont Park after two allowance wins and a third at Mid-Atlantic tracks for trainer Danny Velazquez who will try to win his third stakes race at Belmont in the last two weekends. The 6-year-old is stakes placed in the past as he seeks his first stakes victory. (6) Phat Man returns from a winter layoff when he was the winner of the Fred Hooper (G3) at Gulfstream Park and was second in the GP Mile (G2), both races were one-turn. He earned big speed figures in both of those starts and will cut back in distance for this Grade 3. (5) Majestic Dunhill has raced exclusively at the seven furlong distance on dirt and turf for trainer George Weaver. The 5-year-old is a past stakes winner and is the training partner of the Breeders’ Cup Sprint favorite Vekoma. Always competitive, he has not found the winner’s circle in two years.
Analysis of the other New York Hot List races and the Special Saturday Pick 3 are available free of charge at this website.