With Palace Malice (Curlin) defecting with a foot bruise, Shel Evans's 'TDN Rising Star' Tonalist (Tapit) looms an imposing presence in Saturday's GIII Westchester S. The bay sports a three-for-three record at Big Sandy, having romped in the GII Peter Pan S. some 51 weeks ago before posting the mild upset in the GI Belmont S. Second in the GII Jim Dandy S. and GI Travers S. at Saratoga over the summer, he returned to Elmont and rallied impressively to take the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup over his elders. A late-on-the-scene fifth in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic Nov. 1, Tonalist will get blinkers back on for the first time since the Travers as he tries a flat mile for the first time since finishing fourth in his Aqueduct debut in November of 2013. “He had a very good blowout,” said trainer Christophe Clement, referring to a :47.44 bullet here Apr. 29. “I outfitted him with a pair of blinkers to have him sharp enough, so it's exciting. It's a good race to bring him back, because it's Belmont Park. The big question mark is a mile, so let's run him and we'll go from there. The race will tell you where to go.” The Westchester is traditionally a prep for the GI Metropolitan H. over the same track and trip June 6. Among Tonalist's challengers are Gulstream's Sir Shackleton S. runner-up Confrontation (War Pass) and Apr. 4 Aqueduct allowance winner Juba (Tapit).
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