Bill Mott has a late-blooming turf horse in Courageous Cat ($6.30), who followed up a good-figure maiden win at seven furlongs with a score in the A Gift overnight stakes in 1:39.75, just a couple ticks off the inner course record for 1 1/16 miles. Courageous Cat led early, yielded to a headstrong Anaan down the backstretch, then regained command through a blistering third quarter in 22.94 seconds. After going clear in midstretch, he held off the long-striding Al Khali to win with more authority than indicated by the final margin.
Hello Broadway was never involved and finished a lackluster fourth, beating one horse.
Heading into the nightcap, the pick six has already carried over to Wednesday, even if the Barclay Tagg-trained Storm Hope wins this maiden special-weight at odds-on.
T-minus one week to Saratoga.
