We Speak Horses

Arctic Wolf Goes Wire to Wire to Win the $175,000 Awad Stakes at Belmont Park

Published

17 hours ago

November 14, 2026

Arctic Wolf, number 9 with Kendrick Carmouche aboard in black silks with pink polka dots, winning the Awad Stakes at Belmont Park.

Five starts at five different tracks, and Arctic Wolf keeps finding the winner’s circle. The grey son of Frosted took the field gate to wire Saturday at Belmont Park, winning the $175,000 Awad Stakes by three lengths under Kendrick Carmouche.

The Awad, run as the eighth race, was scheduled for the Widener turf course and moved to the new Tapeta track, where Arctic Wolf set fractions of :22.83, :46.00 and :57.28 before finishing six furlongs in 1:08.99. He paid $13.90 to win and earned $96,250 for owners MHM Stables LLC, Chad Calvert and John F. Goldthorpe.

Metallican finished second, a length and three quarters ahead of Riyadh Way in third. Titan Ready was fourth and More Champagne fifth.

Trained by Jack Sisterson, Arctic Wolf was bred in Kentucky by Flying B Ranch Thoroughbreds and is by Frosted out of the mare Firewolves. Carmouche said after the race that Sisterson’s instructions were simple: take the lead and do not hold back.

The Awad was Arctic Wolf’s second stakes win of the fall. He won the Speakeasy Stakes at Santa Anita on October 3 by two and a quarter lengths, and his five career starts have now come at five different tracks.

Battle School Holds Off Victoria’s Rocket to Win Del Mar’s Fleet Week Feature

Published

17 hours ago

November 14, 2026

We Speak Media

Battle School, number 3 with Tiago Pereira in camouflage silks, holding off Victoria’s Rocket at the finish of race four at Del Mar.

Del Mar built its Saturday afternoon around Fleet Week, and the race carrying the celebration delivered a finish worthy of it. Battle School, with Tiago Pereira wearing camouflage silks, held off Victoria’s Rocket in the fourth race to win the track’s military appreciation feature.

Battle School covered the five and a half furlongs on dirt in 1:04.21 on a track rated good, paying $6.80 to win, $3.60 to place and $2.80 to show. Victoria’s Rocket, ridden by Armando Ayuso for trainer Robert Hess Jr., finished second and paid $4.00 and $2.80. Danzing Wild Cat ran third under Kazushi Kimura and paid $3.40 to show. Kiddo Light and Crucible dead heated for fourth.

The $1 exacta combining Battle School and Victoria’s Rocket paid $11.30, and the 50 cent trifecta with Danzing Wild Cat third paid $29.10. The race carried a purse of $23,000 and was run for a $12,500 claiming tag.

Pereira’s camouflage silks were part of a day that put service members front and center at the seaside oval, with Marines and sailors honored at the track and joining the winning connections after the race. Del Mar summed the result up on its own race post: “Battle School and a camouflaged Tiago Pereira got the Fleet Week memo.”

The win gave trainer Steve Knapp and Pereira a popular score on a nine race card that rain had forced off the turf. The day’s stakes race, the Desi Arnaz, went to Holmby for trainer Bob Baffert, and the fall meet continues Sunday with the Grade 3, $100,000 Bob Hope Stakes.