The 3-year-old turf division gets a serious stress test at Belmont Park on Saturday, and Arnaud Delacour is right in the thick of it, sending Lennox the Grey to the Grade 3 Hill Prince while rolling the dice with Six O Clock in the inaugural Bricks and Mortar Stakes.
The Hill Prince, worth $200,000 at 1 3/16 miles on the inner turf, drew nine sophomores headed by Grade 2 Nashville Derby winner Caroline St. Beat and Colonial Downs Grade 3 Old Dominion Derby hero Lennox the Grey. Caroline St. Beat arrives off a sharp score at Kentucky Downs and has been installed as the 7-5 morning-line favorite, with Lennox the Grey pegged at 8-1 alongside Saratoga allowance winner Print and lightly raced Protect and Defend. Rounding out the cast are Saranac winner Heeere's Johnny, longshot Bull Shoals, the once-highly regarded Versailles Road, Old Dominion Derby show finisher Chambersville and Jersey Derby winner Third Coast, giving this field a healthy mix of graded winners and improving allowance types.
Lennox the Grey comes in as the “now” horse for Delacour, having won three of his last five starts and stepping up successfully into graded company in the Old Dominion Derby at Colonial Downs. In that 1 1/8-mile test on the inner turf, he showed more speed than usual, controlling a measured pace before being headed in deep stretch and clawing back to prevail by a nose, a performance that earned him a career-best figure and marked him as a colt who can fight when things get tight. Several analyses of the race have highlighted how he dug in late after setting honest fractions, suggesting that the added sixteenth of a mile in the Hill Prince should be within his scope if he gets similar trip dynamics. With his tactical speed and willingness to re-rally, he profiles as a key pace player who can either inherit the lead again or sit just off the front if others show more urgency leaving the Belmont chute.
Standing in his way is Caroline St. Beat, a New York-bred who has quietly built one of the more versatile résumés in the crop, handling different surfaces and configurations with equal professionalism. He exits a decisive victory in the Grade 2 Nashville Derby at Kentucky Downs, where he stretched his speed over a demanding 10-furlong configuration and finished with authority, earning comparisons to past multi-surface standouts in the process. Form watchers have noted that his figures have moved forward steadily through the summer, and his ability to sit close and still finish strongly makes him the obvious benchmark for this group around Belmont's tighter inner turf layout. If he reproduces his Nashville effort, he will force Lennox the Grey and the rest of the field to find another gear late, especially given how often forwardly placed runners have held well in recent inner-turf routes at this distance.
The race shape looks subtly tricky, which is where Delacour's colt becomes especially interesting to handicappers. Print and Bull Shoals have shown enough early foot in recent starts to contest the lead, while Chambersville and Lennox the Grey are capable of sitting just behind them and applying pressure down the backside. Heeere's Johnny and Third Coast have done their best work when allowed to settle and make one run, setting up the possibility of a classic two-tiered race: a controlled early tempo with a late charge from the deeper closers if the leaders get cute. On current form, Lennox the Grey feels like the “glue” in the race—fast enough to avoid giving away first run, yet still finishing-minded—and that combination often plays well in 9- to 10-furlong Belmont turf stakes where trips, not raw talent, decide the photo.
Earlier on the card, the spotlight shifts to the Widener turf for the $175,000 Bricks and Mortar Stakes at seven furlongs, where Delacour's Six O Clock cuts back in distance to face a salty group of 3-year-olds. The headline act there is Gold Square's Two Out Hero, a Grade 1-placed son of War Front who has hinted that this intermediate sprint trip might be his sweet spot after strong performances in longer graded events. New York Racing Association notes emphasize that the race was written to honor the 2019 Horse of the Year Bricks and Mortar and to provide an end-of-season target for 3-year-old turf runners who fit neither the pure sprint nor classic-route mold, which makes the seven-furlong journey a true specialist's test.
Six O Clock fits that “tweener” profile well. He debuted with a convincing one-mile turf win at Tampa Bay Downs, rating just off the pace before kicking clear, then tried longer assignments where his aggression on the front end seemed to blunt his finishing punch. His latest Colonial Downs effort saw him show speed and fade late in a 1 1/16-mile allowance, reinforcing the idea that something shorter might let him travel more comfortably and save a stronger finish for the last furlong. Delacour has had success over the years dialing in these tactical turf types at intermediate trips, and if Six O Clock can relax early from his midpack draw, his Tampa turn of foot makes him a live price player underneath the more accomplished names.
These Belmont stakes also arrive with Delacour's barn in quietly strong form. His older turf mare Evershed recently added to her graded résumé with a career-best figure when third in the Grade 2 Flower Bowl at Belmont, and plans are being floated for a return in the Grade 3 Long Island at 1 3/8 miles later this fall. That kind of sustained graded-level performance from his turf runners underscores why Lennox the Grey and Six O Clock merit serious attention from bettors looking past the obvious favorites. On paper, Caroline St. Beat and Two Out Hero deserve their chalky status, but Delacour's duo brings improving form, adaptable running styles, and the kind of subtle upside that often fuels fall stakes upsets on the New York grass, making Saturday's card a compelling watch for anyone who follows the 3-year-old turf division closely.