By Joe Bianca
Green Mask (Mizzen Mast), who was beaten just a half-length in the fastest six-furlong race in world history, will go favored in a field of eight turf sprinters trying to solidify a Breeders' Cup spot in Woodbine's GII Highlander S., a Win and You're In race for the year-end championships.
Running first or second in eight of his last ten races, and no worse than fifth in the other two, Abdullah Saeed Almaddah's Green Mask fell just short of Disco Partner (Disco Partner) in the GIII Jaipur S. June 10 at Belmont, as that one ran the six furlongs in a jaw-dropping 1:05.67, setting a new world record for the distance. Now the dark bay gelding will try to avenge last year, when he finished a neck second in the Highlander.
Gabe Grossberg and Sagamore Farm's Commute (Hold Me Back) looks to have turned a corner as a 5-year-old, and he just missed his first stakes victory when caught on the wire in the seven-furlong GII Connaught Cup over this course June 3. The bay, trained by Mark Casse, cuts back an eighth of a mile and looms as a major player here.
Calgary Cat (Cowtown Cat), once a $25,000 claim for Stephen Chesney and Cory S. Hoffman and trainer Kevin Attard, also ran a big one in the Connaught Cup, closing from last to be third by a head. Fourth at 41-1 in last year's GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint, the chestnut will be making the third start of his form cycle, and he won over this course in distance when upsetting the GII Nearctic S. last fall.
Bear Stables' Noholdingback Bear (Put It Back) returns to turf for the first time since last February, when he was second in the five-furlong Texas Glitter S. Third in the GI Ketel One King's Bishop S. before annexing the GIII Gallant Bob S. last year, the 4-year-old comes in off a troubled seventh-place run in the GII True North S.
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