Chelsea Durand Photo

Belmont Park Notes 6.25.17

by NYRA Press Office

Practical Joke breezed four furlongs in 48.09 seconds on Belmont Park's main track on Sunday as he gears up for the Grade 3, $400,000 Dwyer on Stars & Stripes Day. 

Practical Joke, who will be making his first start since finishing fifth in the Kentucky Derby, will be seeking his first win in his 3-year-old campaign after runner-up efforts in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth and Blue Grass.

"He breezed and continues to train very well ahead of the Dwyer," Brown said.

New Money Honey and Fifty Five - two of the four expected Brown entrants for the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Oaks Invitational - are expected to breeze on the turf Monday at Belmont.

Cloud Computing also put in a maintenance work, breezing four furlongs in 49.49 seconds in just his second work since winning the Preakness on May 20. Brown said Cloud Computing, who only had three previous starts before winning the Triple Crown's middle jewel, is working up to the Grade 2, $600,000 Jim Dandy on July 29 at Saratoga Race Course.

Lady Eli and Antonoe breezed in company, going 49.42 over four furlongs. Lady Eli, who has won eight of her first 11 starts, including the 2015 Grade 1 Belmont Oaks and last year's Grade 1 Flower Bowl, is slated to make her next start in Saratoga's opening weekend in the Grade 1, $500,000 Diana.

Brown said Antonoe, fresh off her win in the Grade 1 Longines Just a Game on Belmont Stakes Day, is also a possibility for the Diana.

"They went together; they're a good team and we're happy with both of them," Brown said.

Rubilinda, the first U.S. winner for multiple Group 1 turf winner and top European sire Frankel, was scratched from Saturday's Wild Applause after the race was moved off the turf.

"It puts me in a bad spot, I likely now will have to go on to an allowance race and if she does well, then on to a stakes race," Brown said. "I'd like to run her here [at Belmont] if I could."

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Champion European trainer Aiden O'Brien may hold a strong hand in this year's Stars & Stripes Festival on Saturday, July 8, with as many as four contenders currently holding invites for the Grade 1, $1.2 million Belmont Derby and Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Oaks Invitationals, both for 3-year-olds at 1 ¼ miles on the inner turf.

O'Brien will look to repeat last year's Derby success with Deauville, sent to a neck victory at 6-1 over Highland Sky, with invitees War Decree and Taj Mahal. War Decree, a Kentucky-bred colt by War Front, won two of his three starts during a shortened juvenile campaign that included a 1 ¾-length victory over eventual UAE Derby winner Thunder Snow in the Group 2 Qatar Vintage at Goodwood last July.

War Decree returned in 2017 after a nearly nine-month layoff with a sixth-place finish in the Group 3 Craven at Newmarket Racecourse in April. He most recently finished a troubled fifth in the 1 5/16-mile Group 1 QIPCO Prix du Jockey Club at Chantilly Racecourse in France on June 4.

Taj Mahal, fourth in the Group 3 Hampton Court at Royal Ascot on June 22, is searching for his first win since breaking his maiden last October over Dundalk Racecourse's Polytrack course. This year, the Irish-bred Galileo colt finished a close fourth in the Prix du Jockey Club, 1 ½ lengths behind the winner, Brametot, and a length ahead of War Decree.

For the Oaks, O'Brien has invites for multiple stakes-placed Alluringly and recent Sandringham Handicap runner-up Rain Goddess.

Alluringly, a Kentucky-bred daughter of Fastnet Rock, broke her maiden by 4 ¾ lengths in her seasonal bow in April and has followed up with a runner-up effort in a listed stakes and a distant third-place finish in the Group 1 Investec Oaks at 1 ½ miles at Epsom Racecourse on June 2. In her last start, Alluringly finished sixth in Royal Ascot's Group 2 Ribblesdale on June 22.

Rain Goddess, by Galileo, won her debut at seven furlongs last fall and was second in the one-mile Sandringham on June 21, finishing 1 ¼ lengths behind the Wesley Ward-trained Con Te Partiro.

Also among this year's European contingent for the Derby are H. H. Aga Khan's Berdibek, a one-length winner fo the Prix Caracalla on June 16 at Maisons-laffitte in France for trainer Mikel Delzangles, who won the 2012 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf with Flotilla and also trained Canndal to a runner-up finish in the Belmont Derby in 2015; and Pia Brandt trainee Called To The Bar, exiting his second straight win with a two-length score in the Group 3 Prix du Lys at 1 ½ miles at Saint-Cloud.

O'Brien's horses are expected to arrive at Belmont Park on Tuesday, July 4, while a flight from France is scheduled to land in New York July 1. Group 1 French Oaks runner-up Sistercharlie is also due to arrive from Europe next week to make her first start for trainer Chad Brown in the Belmont Oaks.

The full list of Belmont Derby and Oaks invitations are available at https://www.nyra.com/belmont/horsemen.

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Oscar Performance is set to work on Monday at Belmont Park leading up to the Grade 1 Belmont Derby Invitational on Stars & Stripes Day, trainer Brian Lynch said.

Oscar Performance was an impressive 3-for-4 during his 2-year-old campaign, which culminated with a 1 ¼-length score in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf last November at Santa Anita. The son of Kitten's Joy struggled in his first two races as a 3-year-old before a bounce-back performance to win the Grade 3 Pennine Ridge last out on June 3 at Belmont.

"He's doing really well and came out of the Pennine Ridge in good order," Lynch said. "He had a couple of subpar performances prior to that, but we have to put that down to soft turf."

His Pennine Ridge victory in a seven-horse field earned Oscar Performance a 93 Beyer Speed Figure, tying his career high. Oscar Performance bested a group that included Ticonderoga, for Brown, and Good Samaritan, for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. Both of those competitors could also run in the Belmont Derby.

"It wasn't a big field but it was a solid group of horses," Lynch said.

Oscar Performance, who has won routes stretching from a mile to a mile-and-an-eighth, will be making his first start at 1 ¼ miles. All four of his victories have come with him either on or near the pace, and Lynch said the longer distance likely won't alter that style.

"I'm not trying to get too creative, it's where he seems to be happiest," Lynch said. "If they leave him alone on the front-end, he always seems very dangerous. Hopefully going a mile and a quarter, he'll be strong enough. We were very happy with the way he finished a mile and an eighth and there's no reason to say he won't get a mile and a quarter."

Unchained Melody came out of her breeze on Thursday in good order as she prepares for the Grade 2, $250,000 Mother Goose on July 1 for 3-year-old fillies.

After winning two of her first three races, Lynch said he is excited to see the daughter of Smart Strike make her stakes debut. Joel Rosario will pick up the mount for the first time, Lynch said.

Meantime is currently undergoing a freshening and could next run during the Saratoga meet, Lynch said. After making five starts since his debut on February 18, Meantime, who was the runner-up in the Grade 3 Peter Pan before finishing eighth in the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes, is the son of 2011 Preakness winner Shackleford.

"He looks good; we've been giving him a good rest and look forward to some spots in Saratoga," Lynch said.