Breeders' Cup Mile runner-up Za Approval will be back at Woodbine on Saturday for the $200,000 Nijinsky Stakes on the turf.
Owned by Live Oak Plantation, Za Approval will start the 1 1/8-mile grass stakes from post 4 in the seven-horse field. Joe Bravo will come in from Monmouth Park to ride the 6-year-old gray gelding.
The gelding lost to Wise Dan in the Breeders' Cup Mile by less than a length.
Za Approval is going for his first win of the year after three losing efforts. He began 2014 at Santa Anita with a fourth-place finish in the Frank E. Kilroe Mile on March 8. Five weeks later he lost again to Wise Dan, this time in the Marker's 46 Mile at Keeneland when he was fourth. Most recently on May 26 he failed as the 4-5 favorite in Belmont Park's Poker Stakes, finishing third to Jack Milton.
Last year at Woodbine, Za Approval was second to Wise Dan in the Woodbine Mile. The gelding has won seven of 20 career starts for better than $1.1 million.
Here is the field for the Nijinsky in post position order: River Seven, Jesse Campbell; Dynamic Sky, Patrick Husbands; Really Sharp, Steven Bahen; Za Approval, Joe Bravo; Five Iron, Luis Contreras; Dorsett, David Moran and Up With the Birds, Eurico Rosa Da Silva.
The Nijinsky has an approximate post time of 4:30 p.m. ET.
[SportsNetwork.com]
