King Guillermo (Uncle Mo), 'TDN Rising Star' Pneumatic (Uncle Mo) and two-time graded-stakes winning filly Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil) are the marquee names among 22 3-year-olds that have been made eligible for the 2020 Triple Crown series at the late closing stage.
The late additions to the three-race series, which this year begins with the GI Belmont S. June 20, take the total number of Triple Crown nominees to 369, pending late mail.
Victoria's Ranch's King Guillermo entered the 3-year-old discussion with his 49-1 upset of Sole Volante (Karakontie {Jpn}) in the Mar. 7 GII Tampa Bay Derby and proved that effort was no one-off with a hard-trying, runner-up effort behind the recently retired Nadal (Blame) in the GI Arkansas Derby May 2.
Pneumatic earned 'Rising Star' status with a fast-finishing allowance victory when making his two-turn debut in Hot Springs Apr. 11 and gave an excellent account of himself when a pace-pressing third to Maxfield (Street Sense) in the GIII Matt Winn S. beneath the Twin Spires May 23.
Swiss Skydiver caused a minor upset in the GII Gulfstream Park Oaks and followed up with a defeat of Venetian Harbor (Munnings) in the GIII Fantasy S. at Oaklawn May 1. Mooted as a possibility for the G1 English 1000 Guineas, she has since been rerouted and goes in this weekend's GII Santa Anita Oaks.
An interesting potential new shooter is Cezanne (Curlin), who fetched $3.65 million to top last year's Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream sale and who is down to debut from the rail in a 6 1/2-furlong maiden as the 4-5 favorite in Saturday's sixth race at Santa Anita.
Late entries to the Triple Crown were due to close in late March at a fee of $6,000, but was postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak. The late period closed Wednesday, June 3, with the fee slashed to $3,000.
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