The $150,000, Grade 3 Salvator Mile Stakes Saturday at Monmouth Park drew a strong field of 10 with more than $4 million in combined earnings between them. Leading the field in career wins, with 10, is Nimitz Class, who has won five in a row including the Native Dancer Stakes in April.
Ridin With Biden has won one-third of his 21 races including the Kris Kringle Stakes in January. Artorius won the Curlin Stakes last summer before a sixth-place finish in the Grade 1 Runhappy Travers Stakes and he returns from an eight-month layoff. Petulante has run just five times but has never finished worse than second and moves into the stakes ranks for the first time. Far Mo Power finished first the Parx Dirt Mile Stakes last September before being disqualified and was third in the Stymie Stakes in February so he appears to fit at this level. Octane is another who has been competitive in stakes as he finished second in the Grade 3 Fred W. Hooper Stakes Presented by Whispering Angel in January. He also enters the race off a strong win at the end of April. Trademark won the Commonwealth Turf Stakes last November by four lengths when that race was moved to dirt because, and although he’s winless in three races this year he may have a say in the outcome. Empty Tomb has run well recently with a win and a runner-up finish in the allowance optional claiming ranks, but he did show stakes form when second in the Queens County Stakes in December 2021. Bourbonic is best known for winning the Grade 1 Wood Memorial Stakes Presented by Resorts World in April of 2021 before a 13th-place finish in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve one month later, but he has won just one of 11 races since. Bourbon Calling rounds out the field, with a pretty good record of 15 first- or second-place finishes in 36 races including three wins in a row earlier this year.
Analysis and top contenders:
It’s going to be tough for the rest of the field to beat Nimitz Class based on the way he’s been running since last December. Nimitz Class has won five in a row, and in the last four races has been dominant in the last eighth of a mile by being in front by at least three lengths then coasting home the rest of the way. Jockey Jevian Toledo has been in the saddle for all five wins after never having ridden the horse previously, and that speaks volumes for the horse and jockey relationship which could lead to Nimitz Class securing his 11th career win in his 17th race. He’s also run faster than the rest of the Salvator Mile field, and more than once, as the 118 Equibase Speed Figure earned winning the John B. Campbell Stakes in February and the 113 figure earned winning the Harrison E. Johnson Memorial Stakes in March are better than any figure earned at any point by the other horses in this race. In securing his last four victories, Nimitz Class has shown the ability to lead from the start or to sit in second for the opening half-mile before taking over and drawing away, and that is likely to be the same strategy employed by Toledo here for this 4-year-old who may still not have run his best race.
Even with Nimitz Class being the horse to beat, Ridin With Biden is no slouch, having earned $475,000 to date in his career compared to $464,880 for Nimitz Class, while winning seven of 21 races and finishing second in five others. Ridin With Biden proved stakes worthy starting in the summer of 2021 when he led late before settling for second in the Grade 3 Dwyer Stakes at Belmont Park. Then after six defeats and possibly as the result of returning to the races as a gelding, Ridin With Biden really got good, winning or placing in six of eight straight stakes races, including back-to-back wins in November of last year and January of this year. The best three of those efforts earned him consistent 106 and 107 figures which aren’t as good as the two best figures Nimitz Class earned recently. On the other hand, consider that Nimitz Class earned 106, 103 and 105 figures in three of his five recent wins. If Nimitz Class repeats those efforts rather than reaches the mid-teens, any of the best recent races Ridin With Biden has run might be good enough to win the Salvator Mile if repeated.
Petulante appears ready for his first stakes try as he returned from a 3 ½-month layoff and made short work of a tough allowance field at this distance last month. This 4-year-old got a late start as he made his career debut last July, but every race he’s run has been an “A” effort, particularly his race in January of this year at the same distance of the Salvator Mile, winning by four lengths with a 101 figure. Off the layoff last month, Petulante earned a 100 figure which might have been higher but there was no need for jockey Luis Saez (who rides again Saturday) to ask him for more speed as he had easily broken clear of the rest of the field in the stretch. As a 4-year-old with only five races under his belt, Petulante has a lot of upside, and he can use the rail draw to his advantage to save ground while either trying for the early lead from the start of relaxing as far back as fourth in the early stages, which he’s done in his previous victories.
The rest of the field, with their best Equibase Speed Figures, is Artorius (101), Bourbon Calling (105), Bourbonic (103), Empty Tomb (110), Far Mo Power (114), Octane (105) and Trademark (106).
Win Contenders:
Nimitz Class
Ridin With Biden
Petulante
Superfecta
1-8-7-9
1-8-7-9
$23
Superfecta
1-8-7-9
1-8-7-9
$23
