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Belmont Park Notes 7.3.17

by NYRA Press Office

• O'Brien's G1 Derby, Oaks contenders to arrive Tuesday
• Shaman Ghost exits solo work in good order ahead of G2 Suburban
• Governor Malibu doing well after Sunday's scratch
• NYRA Bets Late Pick 5 debuts on Fourth of July
• Tumbler giveaway, handicapping tournament on tap for Stars & Stripes Day
• Fields taking shape for July 8 Stars & Stripes Racing Festival

Aidan O'Brien's Stars & Stripes Racing Festival triumvirate are scheduled to arrive in New York on Tuesday, July 4. 

Grade 3 Gallinule victor Homesman and Guineas trial winner Whitecliffsofdover are on target for Saturday's Grade 1, $1.2 million Belmont Derby, while Naas Oaks heroine Key To My Heart will take aim at the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Oaks, both for 3-year-olds at 1 ¼ miles on the inner turf, for the champion European trainer.

Homesman, a late-developing Kentucky-bred by War Front, boasts two wins and two seconds from six starts since his October debut, including a hard-fought head victory in the Gallinule on May 28 at Curragh. Homesman was most recently fifth in the 1 ½-mile King George V on June 22 at Royal Ascot, checking in 4 ½ lengths behind the talented Atty Persse. 

Whitecliffsofdover, also by War Front, will be looking to stretch out beyond a mile for the first time in his seven-race career. A $1.15 million yearling purchase, Whitecliffsofdover boasts a pair of victories at seven furlongs, including a 2 ¾-length gate-to-wire score in the bet365 European Free Handicap at Newmarket Racecourse in April.

Key To My Heart will be making her first start outside of her native Ireland in the Oaks. The speedy Galileo filly is exiting a 2 ¾-length win in the 1 ¼-mile Naas Oaks on June 28.

O'Brien's runners are expected to land at John F. Kennedy International Airport at 10:30 a.m. and arrive at Belmont's Barn 5 in the early afternoon, where they will complete their isolation and quarantine, a process usually lasting between 36-48 hours, while under the care of O'Brien's traveling assistant T.J. Comerford.

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Stronach Stables' Shaman Ghost came out of his last breeze in good order leading up to the Grade 2, $750,000 Suburban on July 8, trainer Jimmy Jerkens said Monday morning.

Shaman Ghost, the Ontario-bred 5-year-old, worked 6 furlongs in 1:13.20 Sunday on the Belmont Park training track. Jerkens said the son of Ghostzapper usually works better in company, especially with stablemate Dolphus, but did fine under exercise rider Kelvin Pahal.

"If I had anything else I would have worked him in company yesterday because you have to urge him along pretty good to get him to work by himself, especially if the track is pulling a little deep like it was," Jerkens said. "But he [Pahal] got him off the bridle in the end and he's a horse that is willing enough to get a good workout."

Shaman Ghost, the 2015 Sovereign Award Champion 3-year-old, has enjoyed a terrific start to his 2017 campaign, following a runner-up finish in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup with back-to-back victories in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap and the Grade 3 Pimlico Special Handicap on May 19. 

Unified, Jerkens other entrant for the Stars & Stripes Racing Festival, is also ready to go as he looks to vie for supremacy in the Grade 2, $350,000 Belmont Sprint Championship. 

With an automatic spot in the Breeders' Cup Sprint on the line for the winner, Unified will bid for his second graded stakes win in three starts in going seven furlongs on Big Sandy. The 4-year-old, who last worked Thursday, will be competing against a talented field that includes Green Gratto and the Chad Summers-trained Mind Your Biscuits, who has won both the Grade 1 Malibu and the Group 1 Golden Shaheen this year.

"It's a tough spot, because Mind Your Biscuits is one of the best horses I've seen in a long time," Jerkens said. "You know he's going to be coming. But you have to run and see where you're at."

Dolphus, a 4-year-old half-brother to 2009 Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra, will run in the Grade 3, $300,000 Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap. Jerkens said he will fly to Louisville on Tuesday before vanning to Prairie Meadows.

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Trainer Christophe Clement said Monday morning that Governor Malibu is doing well after being scratched from Sunday's Saginaw at Belmont Park.

"We scratched him yesterday because there was a question mark with his well-being, but he actually looked pretty good this morning," Clement said. "I just want to give him a few days. He's a nice horse and I don't want to take a risk. It's nothing alarming, it's just how it goes."

Lull breezed five furlongs in 1:01.56 Monday on Belmont's main track. The 3-year-old War Front filly was scratched from the Wild Applause on June 24 when the stakes was moved off the turf.

"We need to find a race," Clement said. "We haven't found the ideal race yet but we will and we'll bring her back."

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Independence Day will mark the launch of the NYRA Bets Late Pick 5, exclusively available to NYRA Bets members across the country and to bettors in New York wagering on-track or through a simulcast facility.

Beginning on Tuesday, July 4, the popular multi-race wager will cover the last five races of every card of live racing at NYRA's tracks - Belmont, Saratoga and Aqueduct - and features the same 15 percent takeout rate and $0.50 bet minimum as the existing early Pick 5. 

The NYRA Bets Late Pick 5 will also feature the same carryover provision of 100% of the net pool into the next day's NYRA Bets Late Pick 5 if there are no winning tickets.

NYRA Bets members are also eligible for a guaranteed minimum $100,000 payout in the event that an account holder is the sole winner of the NYRA Bets Late Pick 5. The $100,000 guaranteed payout is available only to NYRA Bets members through the end of July.

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The best way to mix a drink this weekend will be with a Belmont Park tumbler, the premium giveaway for paid admission and admission vouchers on Saturday for the Stars & Stripes Racing Festival. 

To honor first responders and members of our military, general admission on Saturday, July 8 is free to anyone with a valid military, police, fire or EMT I.D. In addition to the world-class racing including five stakes races, there will be family fun activities, a food truck village, and much more.

Cash and prizes are up for grabs in Saturday's Stars & Stripes Challenge handicapping tournament.

There is a $500 buy-in for the contest, with $300 going towards live money wagers and $200 going to the prize pool, which includes a guaranteed first place prize of $5,000. Additional prizes include a seat in the 2018 Belmont Stakes Challenge and two seats to the DRF/NTRA National Handicapping Championship held in Las Vegas.

To participate, you have to sign up by Thursday, July 6. For full rules and details about how to sign up, please visit NYRA.com/challenge.

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Probables for the Stars & Stripes Racing Festival on Saturday, July 8, 2017:

Grade 1, $1.2 million Belmont Derby
Probable: Arklow (Brad Cox);Big Score (Tim Yakeen); Called to the Bar (Pia Brandt); Frostmourne (Christophe Clement); Good Samaritan (Bill Mott); Homesman (Aidan O'Brien); Makarios (Nick Zito); Oscar Performance (Brian Lynch); Senior Investment (Kenny McPeek); Ticonderoga (Chad Brown); Whitecliffsofdover (O'Brien); Yoshida (Mott)

Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Oaks
Probable: Beau Recall (Simon Callaghan); Coasted (Leah Gyarmati); Daddys Lil Darling (McPeek); Dynatail (Michael Dini); Fifty Five (C. Brown) Grizzel (Michael Doyle); Journey Home (Graham Motion); Key To My Heart (O'Brien); New Money Honey (C. Brown); Sistercharlie (C. Brown); Uni (C. Brown); Violet Blue (Jimmy Toner)

Grade 2, $750,000 Suburban
Probable: Follow Me Crev (Vladimir Cerin); Keen Ice (Todd Pletcher); Matt King Coal (Linda Rice); Shaman Ghost (Jimmy Jerkens); Sunny Ridge (Jason Servis); Watershed (Kiaran McLaughlin)

Grade 2, $350,000 Belmont Sprint Championship
"Win and You're In" TwinSpires Breeders' Cup Sprint Division
Probable: Awesome Slew (Mark Casse); Cadeyrn (Jeremiah Englehart); Fellowship (Kenneth Decker); Green Gratto (Gaston Grant); Mind Your Biscuits (Chad Summers); Stallwalkin' Dude (David Jacobson); Tommy Macho (Pletcher); Unified (Jerkens)

Grade 3, $400,000 Dwyer
Probable: Battalion Runner (Pletcher); Guiseppe the Great (Zito); Practical Joke (C. Brown); True Timber (McLaughlin)
Possible: Petrov (Ron Moquett); Tale of Silence (Barclay Tagg)