ELMONT, N.Y. – The ultra-consistent Red Vine, who has been first, second or third in all but two of his 21 career starts, goes in search of his first career graded stakes victory Saturday at Belmont Park when he takes five others, including the Todd Pletcher pair of Anchor Down and Matterhorn, in the Grade 3, $150,000 Westchester.

The one-mile Westchester, the tradition prep for the Grade 1, $1.25 million Metropolitan Handicap on June 11, Belmont Stakes Day, is one of three graded stakes on Saturday’s 12-race Derby Day card. Run as Race 4, the Westchester is joined by the Grade 3, $150,000 Fort Marcy (Race 10) and the Grade 2, $200,000 Sheepshead Bay (Race 11), both on the turf. First-race post time is 12:25 p.m.

When last seen on the track, the now 6-year-old Red Vine was finishing a narrow second behind stablemate Tonalist in November in the Grade 1 Cigar Mile Handicap. Delighted as he was to have the two best horses in the Cigar Mile, trainer Christophe Clement is very much looking forward to Red Vine starting his 2016 campaign on a positive note.

“I’m excited to see him run,” said Clement of the Jon S. Kelly color-bearer, the 6-5 favorite on the morning line. “He’s been training well. Manny [Franco] knows the horse well; he’s won twice on him. It’s a very tough race. The Westchester sometimes is a weaker race, but this year it’s tougher. But that’s okay.”

Red Vine, who last year also finished third in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile and the Grade 1 Pacific Classic and second in the Grade 2 Kelso Handicap and Grade 3 Salvatore Mile, will leave from post position 5.

Challenging Red Vine will be Alto Racing’s Anchor Down, seeking his first stakes victory, and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners’ Matterhorn, who enters the Westchester off a last-to-first victory in an optional claimer on April 8.

Anchor Down, a 5-year-old gray son of Tapit, most recently finished a fairly well-backed fourth in the Grade 1 Carter Handicap on April 8, his fourth stakes appearance.

“He’s put forth some big efforts, but hasn’t put it all together,” said Byron Hughes, Pletcher’s assistant. “Hopefully he can step up here.”

Matterhorn, another 5-year-old son of Tapit, has made four stakes starts, finishing fourth in the Grade 2 Peter Pan and eighth in the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes as a 3-year-old, and more recently third in the 2015 Grade 3 Iselin at Monmouth Park and seventh in the Grade 2 Kelso in October.

“The Kelso was at the end of the year, over a sloppy track – we gave him some time off after that,” said Hughes. “He came back and finished fourth at Parx, which can be a hard track to close into, and then won last time out at Aqueduct. He probably needed the race.

“He’s sometimes a funny horse to ride,” he added. “You can’t really tell him what to do; sometimes, he tells you what he wants to do. He’s been training well, so we’re hopeful.”

Anchor Down, the 2-1 second choice on the morning line, will leave from post position 6 under Jose Ortiz while Matterhorn, 6-1, drew post position 2 with Chris DeCarlo in the irons.

Rounding out the field are Mylute, who was seventh in the Grade 3 Commonwealth in April at Keeneland in his 2016 debut; Stormin Monarcho, making his first graded stakes appearance since a sixth-place finish in last year’s Grade 3 Excelsior, and Grade 3 Withers and Gotham winner Samraat, who has started just twice since finishing sixth in the 2014 Belmont Stakes, most recently finishing third behind Matterhorn and Stormin Monarcho on April 8 at Aqueduct.