A field of 11 go at Belmont Park in the $80,000 Chelsey Flower on closing day. .(photo credit: © Cheryl Quigley | Dreamstime.com)
A field of 11 two-year-old fillies line up Sunday in the $80,000 Chelsey Flower, the final stakes race of the Belmont Park meeting which closes this afternoon.
The Brad Cox trained Caldee is the 5-2 morning line favorite. The filly is coming off a runner up finish in the Miss Grillo (G2) over the turf here on Oct. 4. Javier Castellano has the return call and will break from the seven post.
The last six editions of the race have been won by either Chad Brown or Christophe Clement and they both have contenders for this year’s race.
Brown will send out Ingrassia (4-1) who was third in the Jessamine (G2) at Keeneland and Fluffy Socks (6-1), who won the Selima at Laurel Park in her last start.
Clement will saddle Mischievous Dream (10-1), who won the Sorority and then ran second in the Nownownow in her last two outings, both at Monmouth Park.
Jessamine Replay
A filly that might get overlooked is the Graham Motion trained Oyster Box (8-1), who broke her maiden going six furlongs on turf at Belmont Park on Oct. 3. She has a nice pedigree and picks up Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez.
After closing day there is a four-day break in New York with the fall Aqueduct meeting kicking off next Friday.
You can catch the action from Belmont Park and Churchill Downs today from 12:00 to 6:00 ET on FS2. In addition, you can stream the action on YouTube or by using the TVG App. TVG is offering a Sign Up Bonus Up To $250.
Let’s head out to Belmont Park for Sunday’s featured race of the day:
Belmont Park Race 8 The Chelsey Flower (3:55 ET)
2 Oyster Box 8-1
4 Ingrassia 4-1
7 Caldee 5-2
8 Fluffy Socks 6-1
Oyster Box
This filly was a good looking maiden winner in her debut for the Motion barn. She made her first start at six furlongs on the grass here. She stalked the early pace and came with a good four wide rally to get the job done by a length at 5-1. The effort was flattered when both the third and fourth place finishers came back to graduate in their next starts. This gal should only get better with more ground. She is by Tapit out of the multiple graded stakes winner Starformer ($543,126) who ash dropped two other foals to race, both turf winners including stakes winner Flavius ($541,151). The extra ground will suit and her mare and her sis both handled ground less than form which may be the case again today.
Ingrassia
She is one of two in here sent out by the Brown barn that won this race in 2015, 2016 and 2018. The filly graduated in her debut, stalked the early pace and getting up late to win by a nose over good ground at the Spa. She shipped to Keeneland for the Jessamine (G2) where she was keen early while racing in between foes, came with a five wide run and finished up well for third. He looks like a good fit in this spot and does not need to move forward much to be in the mix. She is by Medaglia d’Oro out of a stakes placed Henrythenavigtor. her first foal to race.
Caldee
The daughter of More Than Ready wired the field to break her maiden at the Spa in her turf debut in her second career start. last out in the Miss Grillo (G2) she set moderate early fractions and could not hold off Plum Ali and settled for the runner up spot. Plum Ali is a Christophe Clement trainee who is perfect in three starts. There are a couple of foes in here with some early zip which could keep this Cox trainee from having it easy up front.
Wagering:
WIN: Oyster Box to win at 5-1 or better.
EXACTA: 2,4 / 2,4,7,8 and 2 / 4,7,8,10
