Nations Pride and With The Moonlight, both piloted by Frankie Dettori, had markedly different trips in their respective first outings in North America, traveling 10 furlongs over the Belmont inner turf.
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Classic Causeway earned multiple graded stakes wins on dirt in his eight-race career before trainer Ken McPeek entered him against top-caliber divisional competition for his turf debut in the $1 million Caesars Belmont Derby Invitational (G1). But the homebred son of Giant’s Causeway took to the new surface immediately, surging to the front as a 26-1 longshot and never relinquishing the lead in a gate-to-wire victory on Belmont Park’s inner turf course on Saturday.