Garden City Stakes at Belmont Park

Dave Bond | OTB Writer

Las Vegas, NV - New York's Belmont Park plays host to the Grade 1 Garden City Stakes this Saturday, September 15. Three year old fillies will be featured when they go 1 1/8 miles on Belmont Park's turf track in search of a $300,000 purse.

The Garden City has attracted a field of seven females to go in race 9 on Belmont's Saturday card. Post time is 5:06 PM. Here is a look at all seven entries and what brought them to this important Grade 1 race.

Greyhound Betting

2012 Garden City Stakes Race Favorites

Samitar - Irish filly Samitar makes her second start on North American soil after a decent career in her native land on Saturday to follow a good third place finish in her debut at the Grade 2 Lake George Stakes at Saratoga on July 25. Among her impressive results at home was an upset win in the One Guineas in a race that put her firmly on the radar. Ramon Dominguez will ride the 8-5 morning line favorite from position 3 on Saturday in attempts to bounce back from her third place debut.

Karlovy Vary - beat Hard Not to Like in the Ashland at Keeneland on April 7 and before that won an Allowance Optional Claiming on February 26 at Gulfstream. Since that time she has raced to mixed results - a disappointing twelfth in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks on May 4 was followed by a win at this distance in an Allowance Optional Claiming at Churchill Downs on June 23 and a third last time out in the minor Nani Rose Stakes at Saratoga on July 29. The lone non-placing took place on dirt - a surface that she was largely unfamiliar with. She has won three of five starts in 2012 and is the morning line second choice.

Garden City Stakes 2012 | Remaining Field Entries

Somali Lemonade - finished rather disappointing sixth in the Grade 2 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on November 4 at Churchill Downs to end her 2011 campaign and has looked just OK in her four starts of 2012 - a disappointing sixth in the Grade 2 Lake George Stakes on July 25 was followed by an OK third last time out behind Stephanie's Kitten and Centre Court in the Grade 2 Lake Placid Stakes. Also this year Somali Lemonade has a decent third in the Grade 3 Boiling Springs Stakes at Monmouth on June 23, a fourth as favorite in the Grade 2 Sands Point Stakes at Belmont and a good second in the Grade 3 Appalachian Stakes at Keeneland on April 19. Somali Lemonade does have two wins in her eight race career - the Grade 3 JP Morgan Chase Jessamine Stakes in October and a Maiden Special Weight score at Belmont Park last September 11.

Garden City Stakes betting at Belmont Park with OffTrackBetting.com

Ciao Bella - is a Todd Pletcher trained filly making her graded stakes debut after just three career starts yielded a pair of wins and a fourth last time out in the Summer Guest Stakes at Saratoga on August 17. All of her starts have come on dirt however.

Trophy Wife - is another filly making her stakes debut on Saturday for trainer Claude McGaughey. She has won two of her last three starts with one coming on this track in a Maiden Special Weight on June 14.

Tannery - will be making her North American debut in the Garden City after a good year racing in Ireland. She enters Saturday's race having won four of her last five starts with all four of her career wins coming over that span.

Open Water - finished a decent third in the Grade 1 Las Virgenes but followed it up with a disappointing seventh in the Hollywood Oaks. She followed an impressive second in her turf debut in the Grade 2 San Clemente at Del Mar on July 22 and had a third in the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks on August 18. She is the longest shot in the field despite her decent recent results.


2012 Garden City Stakes Entries & Odds

Race 9 on Belmont Park's Saturday card with a Post Time of 5:06 PM.

Post Horse Jockey Trainer ML Odds
1 Tannery (IRE) J. Lezcano A. Goldberg
5-1
2 Open Water C. Nakatani E. Guillot
12-1
3 Samitar (GB) R. Dominguez C. Brown
8-5
4 Somali Lemonade J. Rosario M. Matz
6-1
5 Ciao Bella J. Velazquez T. Pletcher
10-1
6 Karlovy Vary J. Leparoux G. Arnold, II
5-2
7 Trophy Wife A. Garcia C. McGaughey III
8-1