Following the mid-morning break to groom Belmont Park’s main track Wednesday, Japanese invaders Casino Drive, Spark Candle and Champagne Squall put in their first serious works since arriving here on April 30.

The three worked in company, with Spark Candle and Champagne Squall staying well off the rail and allowing Casino Drive the inside path. Casino Drive was clocked five furlongs in 59.94, handily, Spark Candle in 1:01.94, handily and Champagne Squall in 1:01.11, handily, on the fast track.

Casino Drive and Spark Candle, are pointed for Saturday’s 55th running of the Grade 2, $200,000 Peter Pan for three-year-olds at nine furlongs, while the Irish-bred Champagne Squall, a maiden, will likely find a spot on turf next week. All are owned by Hidetoshi Yamamoto and trained by Kazuo Fujisawa.

The star of the group is Casino Drive, who will be ridden by Hall of Fame jockey Kent Desormeaux, winner of Saturday’s Kentucky Derby aboard Big Brown,. Casino Drive, purchased for $950,000 in the Keeneland September 2006 sale, is a half-brother to 2006 Belmont Stakes winner Jazil and a three-quarter-brother to Rags to Riches, who last year became one of three fillies to win the Belmont Stakes. All three horses share the same dam, Better Than Honour. Jazil is by Seeking the Gold; Rags to Riches is by 1992 Belmont Stakes winner and Horse of the Year A.P. Indy, and Casino Drive is by 2003 Horse of the Year, Mineshaft, a son of A.P. Indy.

“All we hope for on Saturday is that the horses have a safe trip and come back healthy,” said Nobutaka Tada, managing director for Globe Equine Management Ltd. “Casino Drive is going to run in the Belmont (June 7), regardless of how he runs on Saturday. He needs the race.

“It is because of his breeding for the Belmont Stakes that we are here, and (hopefully) we can attract many people to the race. The owner (Yamamoto) is very sports-minded, and this is why these horses have come to America.”

Yamamoto is president and CEO of Tokyo’s Fields Corporation, whose main activities are to develop, manufacture, design and sell amusement/game machines such as Pachinko and slot machines. Fields Corporation is also involved in operating sport gym management, selling jewelry and real estate business.

Casino Drive has had one race, that being an 11 ½-length victory at Kyoto on February 23, where he covered “about” nine furlongs in 1:54 2/5. An outbreak of influenza in Japan has kept Casino Drive on the move from training centers to other tracks, avoiding the illness and adhering to Japanese restrictions on shipping out of the country.

Spark Candle is a son of A.P. Indy out of Serena’s Song, who won 11 Grade 1 races and retired as the biggest money-winning female in North American racing history. He was purchased out of the same sale as Casino Drive for $1.5 million. He has raced mainly on turf, and his lone dirt try was a disaster.

No rider has been named for Saturday.

Tada said the horses would likely jog or walk on Thursday and canter (gallop) on Friday morning.

Preakness candidate Giant Moon worked five furlongs in 1:01.04 Wednesday morning under exercise rider Cesar Correa, leaving trainer Rick Schosberg confident the New York-bred son of Giant’s Causeway was on target for the second leg of racing’s Triple Crown.

“He’s fit,” said Schosberg of Giant Moon, who worked in tandem with the allowance horse Tangesti. “He’ll work an easy half Tuesday, depending on the weather, and we’ll ship down Thursday after training to get acquainted with the track.”

Undefeated through his first four starts, Giant Moon finished 47 lengths behind Visionaire in the Grade 3 Gotham on March 8 over a sloppy track, then was fourth to Take of Ekati in the Grade 1 Wood Memorial April 5. Visionaire went on to finish 12th in the Kentucky Derby behind Big Brown while Tale of Ekati was fourth.

“If you look at the Derby, only two horses ran really well,” said Schosberg. “In the Preakness, it will be a new group of horses and I think my horse should move forward off the Wood. It depends on how much he moves forward, but I think he can run a good race in the Preakness.

“On the other hand, I don’t see anyone beating Big Brown if he runs back to the Derby,” he continued. “Even if he runs a couple of lengths slower, I don’t see anyone beating him. But they still have to go around once.”

Joining Giant Moon in Baltimore could be Stronach Stables’ undefeated Harlem Rocker, winner of the Grade 3 Withers April 26 at Aqueduct. Trainer Todd Pletcher said the gray son of Macho Uno will work either Saturday or Sunday, after which a decision will be made on whether to take on Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown on May 17.

“We’ll watch him work this weekend and talk to the Stronachs,” said Pletcher. “The Preakness is a good progression for him. Taking on Big Brown is not something everyone is looking forward to. But, he’d be going into the Preakness with the same record Big Brown went into the Derby with.”

Harlem Rocker made his first two starts at Gulfstream Park, taking a seven-furlong maiden race on Valentine’s Day and then winning a one-mile allowance on March 30. In the Withers, he came wide and ran off to a 2 ½ length victory over favored J Be K in 1:34.50 under Eibar Coa.

“He’s lightly raced, but he’s done everything right,” said Pletcher.

Partingglass Stable’s Dave, a 7-year-old Ends Well gelding, worked a half mile in 48.59 on the main track this morning. Trained by Barclay Tagg, he is expected for Sunday’s 33rd running of $100,000-added Kingston Handicap for New York-breds at a mile and a sixteenth on the inner turf course. Dave was third in the Kingston last year, beaten three-quarters of a length by Red Zipper.

Red Zipper, Classic Pack, Mission Approved, North Country, R Clear Victory and Spurred are all likely for the Kingston, with Al Amir had Hammock listed as questionable. Hammock worked a half-mile in 49.91 Wednesday, for trainer Richard Schosberg.

Trainer Bobby Ribaudo is off to a strong start this meeting, and that makes him eager to get a race for Grand Couturier (GB), who worked an easy half mile in 50.56 this morning.

Grand Couturier handed Ribaudo his first Grade 1 victory last summer when he won Saratoga’s Sword Dancer under jockey Calvin Borel.

“This was really his first work, but that’s not to say he is too far off,” Ribaudo said. “He spent 60 days in Ocala, and then I picked him up at Gulfstream. He doesn’t take long to get ready, but I doubt he will start before the middle of June. I was hoping to have him ready for the Manhattan on Belmont Stakes Day (June 7), but I think it will be more likely we’ll find another spot to start and look at a race like the Man o’War and then run back in the Sword Dancer.”

New York Racing Association Vice President and Director of Racing Paul J. Campo and Stakes Coordinator Andrew Byrnes moved the Grade 1, $500,00 Man ‘o War for three-year-olds and up at 11 furlongs on the turf from the Fall Championship meet to Saturday, July 12. The Sword Dancer, normally the mid-meet feature at Saratoga, has been moved to Alabama Day, Saturday, August 16