Nancy Favreau, Kathy Psoinos and Michael Tabor's undefeated colt Competitive Edge (Super Saver) will look for his fifth victory in Saturday's GII Woody Stephens S., which will kick off the graded action on the Belmont card. The $750,000 Fasig-Tipton March purchase romped by double digits in his 'TDN Rising Star' debut before easily annexing the GI Hopeful S. He suffered a hairline fracture after that effort, but returned to the races with a decisive victory in the Tamarac S. at Gulfstream Mar. 27 and recently tallied the GIII Pat Day Mile at Churchill May 2.
“His record kind of speaks for itself,” said trainer Todd Pletcher. “He's been consistently good in all his starts. He's trained very well.”
Although the morning-line 4-5 favorite, Competitive Edge will face some stiff competition in GII Swale S. winner Ready for Rye (City Zip) and GIII Bay Shore winner March (Blame), as well as stablemate Two Weeks Off (Harlan's Holiday). Chalk Racing's Ready for Rye graduated going six panels in the slop here in October before finishing second in Gulfstream's Spectacular Bid S. Jan. 3. He was impressive in his GII Swale S. win Mar. 7 and finished third behind March in the Bay Shore Apr. 4. March, who won second out over the Aqueduct inner track Jan. 11, was fifth in the GIII Wither S. Feb. 7 before breaking through in stakes company with a rallying win in the Bay Shore.
Two Weeks Off, Pletcher's second-best bet, according to the morning line, earned his first win in a Spa special weight in August. Sidelined until April 4, he returned with a sharp allowance win at Keeneland before completing the GII Peter Pan S. trifecta May 9 .
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