Eighty minutes or so before the sport’s top three-year-olds battle it out in Saturday’s 139th Belmont Stakes, some of the fastest and classiest three-year-old fillies around meet in the 77th Acorn. The Grade 1, $250,000 Acorn – race 9 on a spectacular 13-race Belmont Stakes Day program that kicks off at noon – will be contested at one mile.

Wednesday morning, the Acorn drew a field of six fillies, led by Comely winner Boca Grande, Nassau County champ Dream Rush and Grade 1 winner Christmas Kid. Eclipse Award winning trainer Todd Pletcher, who is running his superstar three-year-old filly Rags to Riches against males in the Belmont Stakes, also entered the accomplished Cotton Blossom in the Acorn.

With a post time of 5:04 p.m., the Acorn fits snuggly into a pair of $1 million guaranteed multi-race wagers.

The stacked, all-stakes Pick 6 begins with the sixth race, the Grade 2 True North at 3:08 p.m. The Pick 4 kicks off at 4:25 p.m. with the Grade 2 Woody Stephens. Both wagers conclude with the Belmont Stakes.

As far as the Belmont Stakes Day TV coverage, fans should note ESPN carries the action from noon to 5 p.m. before ABC takes over with a 120-minute telecast that airs at 5 p.m.

Pletcher would have had the short-priced Acorn favorite in Octave, but he has decided to keep Octave on the sidelines until the Grade 1, $250,000 Mother Goose at nine furlongs on Saturday, June 30 here at Belmont Park. Pletcher, of course, has a very deep bench and he has decided to give the nod to Cotton Blossom, a tough, workman-like filly, instead.

Cotton Blossom owns three wins, two seconds and a third from eight starts. Last summer, she scored an upset win in Saratoga’s Grade 3 Schuylerville before she ran second in the Grade 1 Spinaway and third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.

“She’s been a real nice horse for us for a while now,” said Pletcher, who won his first and only Acorn in 1998 with Jersey Girl. “I definitely think she’s improved since her two-year-old campaign.”

Cotton Blossom began the year with a solid victory in the Florida Oaks, and has since finished second in the Grade 2 Fantasy and ninth in the Kentucky Oaks. But Cotton Blossom may have had a tougher trip than anyone in the Oaks as she took up sharply at the 3/16ths pole.

“Thankfully, she came out of the race in good shape,” Pletcher said. “She checked so bad I was worried something happened to her. Without that trouble, I think she would have hit the board. She’s trained well since then. Physically, she looks great.”

Cotton Blossom has drawn post 4 with jockey John Velazquez.

West Point Stable’s Dream Rush might be the most exciting filly heading into the Acorn. A daughter of Wild Rush, Dream Rush has won four of five starts, suffering her only loss with a tough-trip second at Gulfstream Park back in January.

Purchased as a two-year-old for $285,000, Dream Rush steps into the Acorn off an awesome and easy victory here in the May 5th Nassau County at seven furlongs. Dream Rush made all the running on the lead that day, expanded her margin effortlessly in the stretch, and stopped the teletimer in a scorching 1:22.

“She’s trained well since the Nassau County,” trainer Rick Violette Jr. said. “As far as the morning goes, she’s been doing everything while firing on all cylinders.”

Dream Rush, blessed with a high cruising speed, might play out as the pacesetter in the Acorn. She’ll also be making her first start over seven furlongs this Saturday.

“Honestly, I don’t see the mile as being a problem,” Violette said. “Her pedigree says she should handle it. She’s really done everything right since that latter part of Saratoga last summer and she’s fast to boot.”

Edward Evans’ Christmas Kid has done little wrong, winner four of seven starts, including Keeneland’s prestigious Grade 1 Ashland. A filly by the 1999 Belmont Stakes champion Lemon Drop Kid, Christmas Kid returns to Belmont Park this Saturday, a place she broke her maiden at last September.

“She seems to be doing really good,” said trainer Jimmy Jerkens, who recently won Belmont Park’s Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap with Corinthian. “From top to bottom this race really came up tough, but she’s training great and she looks real good. I wouldn’t be as confident if she looked she was going backwards.”

Dream Rush drew the rail with jockey Garrett Gomez.

Christmas Kid returns to a one-turn mile Saturday, a distance she won Gulfstream’s Grade 2 Davona Dale at in February.

“I always thought her best race all along was a mile around one turn,” Jerkens said. “She’s always acted like a mile was the perfect distance for her. With Dream Rush in there, it looks like they’ll speed to run at.”

Christmas Kid has drawn post 3, while picking up jockey Edgar Prado in the process.

Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey has won the Acorn twice, in 1994 with Inside Information and 2000 Finder’s Fee. This time around, McGaughey’s got Boca Grande in his corner.

By A.P. Indy – the 1992 Belmont Stakes champion, Horse of the Year and sire of Belmont Stakes runner Rags to Riches – Boca Grande enters the Acorn with three wins from five starts. Two of her brightest moments came across town at Aqueduct when she won last November’s Grade 2 Demoiselle and the April 14th Comely.
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