OZONE PARK, N.Y. – On the surface, it would appear trainer Chad Brown entered Gerrymander in Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Noble Damsel in the event the one-mile race is rained off the turf and run on the main track. While Brown will certainly run Gerrymander on the dirt, which, given the forecast, is very possible, he did enter her to run on turf. Should the race remain on turf, Brown also has proven grass horses Gina Romantica and Fluffy Socks in the field. Gerrymander, who has never raced on turf, is a stakes winner at 2 and 3, her victory in the Grade 2 Mother Goose in 2022 being her career highlight. Though Gerrymander is winless in seven starts since, Brown does see her rounding back into form. :: Get Belmont at the Big A Clocker Reports from Mike Welsch and the Clocker Team. Available every race day. Moreover, Brown sees some turf in Gerrymander’s pedigree, noting that the second dam, It’s a Ruby, is a sister to Like a Gem, who produced the three-time Grade 1 winner Hard Not to Like. “There’s a lot of turf in the pedigree and before we wrap up the season on her – she’s sort of coming back to form on numbers – I wanted to see her on it,” Brown said. Sunset Louise is another horse who has never been on turf who was entered in this race but not designated as main-track only. Sunset Louise excels on wet tracks having won all three of her starts on such a surface. The only negative regarding Sunset Louise is her three worst races have come when she’s been unable to race on Lasix, the anti-bleeding medication that is prohibited for use in stakes. Balpool won the off-the-turf Memories of Silver Stakes in April. Venti Valentine won the Bay Ridge in the mud here last December. Both are entered main-track only, as are Battle Bling, Movie Moxy, and Bustin Bay. Should the Noble Damsel remain on turf, Brown’s Gina Romantica won the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland last fall. Most recently, she is coming off a runner-up finish in the Grade 1 Beverly D. at Colonial Downs. “She got in a little trouble on the inside, not sure she would have won, but you don’t know,” Brown said. “She definitely lost her momentum a little bit.” Brown said both Gina Romantica and Fluffy Socks, the latter a multiple Group 2 winner, are both pace dependent. The pace in the Noble Damsel would appear to be supplied by Sunset Louise and Kentucky shipper Not So Close, who is coming off an allowance win at Saratoga on Aug. 17 for trainer Norm Casse. Malavath has not lived up to the $3.2 million price tag for which she was purchased last December at the Arqana Breeding Stock Sale in France. She is winless in two starts this year, but trainer Christophe Clement has liked the way she’s trained since being given a freshening following a fourth-place finish in the Eatontown Stakes at Monmouth Park in June. Runaway Rumour, who was entered in Friday’s John Hettinger Stakes for New York-breds, was also entered in the Noble Damsel, which is scheduled for race 7 on the card. Clement has Cole covered Regardless of which surface Saturday’s $125,000 Ashley T. Cole Stakes for New York-breds is run, trainer Christophe Clement would appear to have the horse to beat. The race is scheduled for 1 1/8 miles on turf. On turf, Clement sends out City Man, a winner of 10 stakes, including last year’s Cole and last month’s West Point at Saratoga. City Man has recorded the New York-bred turf stakes equivalent of the grand slam, having won the Cole, Mohawk, Kingston, and West Point in the last 12 months. On dirt, Drake’s Passage would be the one to beat. Drake’s Passage, coming off a 7 3/4-length win in the Albany Stakes, is being pointed to the Empire Classic at Aqueduct on Oct. 29. While Clement has an allowance spot picked out for Drake’s Passage, this could be an even better opportunity. Drake’s Passage did win his maiden over a muddy Aqueduct track last December. After a long layoff, he has won both his starts this year. “His two races this year have been very professional,” Clement said. Brown also has contenders entered for either surface. On turf, he’ll send out Spirit of St Louis, second to City Man in the West Point. On dirt, he has entered Dr Ardito, who is cross-entered in Saturday’s Parx Dirt Mile. Spirit of St Louis would also be effective on dirt. He won his maiden here in February over a sloppy track gong one mile and was second in an allowance race going 1 1/8 miles in his first start against winners. Somelikeithotbrown, a stakes winner on both dirt and turf, Barrage, Born Dancer, Jerry the Nipper, and Kingdom on Paws also are in the body of the race. Un Ojo, and Colloquy are entered to run only on the main track. The Cole is carded as race 3 on a 10-race card that begins at 1:05 p.m. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.