TurfPublicists: BELMONT PARK NOTES: Friday, May 21, 2010

Friday, May 21, 2010

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BELMONT PARK NOTES

Belmont hopeful Make Music for Me to breeze Sunday
Spangled Star is Belmont-bound
New Madrid will skip Belmont Stakes
Quality Road looking good for Met Mile
No Belmont starter for Pletcher, but plenty of runners on undercard
Dutrow plots paths for 3-year-olds

ELMONT, N.Y. – Make Music for Me, who rallied from last to finish fourth in the Kentucky Derby in his most recent start, is slated to work one mile Sunday morning at Belmont Park in preparation for the 142^nd running of the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Stakes on Saturday, June 5.

Trainer Alexis Barba will arrive Saturday morning to watch the Bernstein colt gallop, with the breeze scheduled to go off about 9 a.m. Sunday on the main track, according to assistant trainer and exercise rider Andy Durnin.

Make Music for Me, who is 1-2-1 from nine starts, arrived at Belmont Park on Monday and has taken nicely to his new surroundings, said Durnin.

"The first day he galloped over a hard, sealed, sloppy track and went well, and the last two last two days it's been deep and sandy, and he's getting across it really well, too," said Durnin. "So far, knock wood, he's gotten over anything he's put his foot on. And it made sense to get here early so he can get a couple of nice breezes over the track and really get a feel for it."

Owned by Ellen and Peter Johnson, Make Music for Me's first victory came in his seventh start, an overnight stakes on the turf at Santa Anita on March 6 in his 3-year-old debut. As a 2-year-old, he was off the board once in six starts, finishing second to Preakness winner Lookin At Lucky in the Grade 2 Best Pal and the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity and third, beaten 1 ¼ lengths, behind him in the Grade 1 Cash Call Futurity.

"The way Lookin At Lucky ran in the Preakness does his form good as he finished close to him three times," noted Durnin. "In the Derby, he wasn't stopping at all. Eight wide cost him a bit of ground. Hopefully, there won't be any distance limitations. He does relax, so I don't think he'll use himself up early."

Joel Rosario, who was aboard in the Kentucky Derby, is scheduled to ride Make Music for Me in the 1 ½ mile Belmont.

* * *

Spangled Star, third in the Grade 3 Withers at Aqueduct on April 24, will make his next start in the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Stakes on June 5, owner Lawrence P. Roman confirmed on Thursday.

Trained by Rick Dutrow, Jr., Spangled Star broke his maiden by 4 ¼ lengths at Laurel in January in his seventh start, then was third in a February allowance race at the Maryland racing venue in his final effort prior to the Withers.

"He seems to be getting a little better with every start," Roman said of the son of Distorted Humor. "He's lightly-raced and he's bred to go the distance. When I bought him, I had the Belmont Stakes in mind. For most people the Kentucky Derby is the race they want to win the most, but for me that race is the Belmont."

Roman remains realistic when he assesses Spangled Star's chances of winning the Belmont, which is the final and longest leg of the Triple Crown.

"No one in the field has gone a mile-and-a-half," Roman said. "I expect him to be a long shot, but other long shots like Da' Tara have won it in recent years."

* * *

Following a fifth-place finish in a first-level turf allowance on Thursday at Belmont Park, Shortleaf Stable's New Madrid will skip the Belmont Stakes, trainer Tim Ice said Friday morning.

"He won't run in the Belmont," Ice said. "He needed to show me more yesterday than he did. The Arkansas Derby [on April 10] wasn't so long ago that I think he needed the race or anything. He'll run back in a dirt allowance race and we'll see from there."

New Madrid, a son of Rock Hard Ten, finished sixth in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby a month after breaking his maiden at third asking at Oaklawn Park.

* * *

Quality Road will have his final tune-up on Tuesday for Memorial Day's Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap, and trainer Todd Pletcher could not be happier with the way the 4-year-old Elusive Quality colt is coming into the race.

"He's doing great," said Pletcher of Edward P. Evans' homebred, who in the Met Mile will be making his first start since kicking clear to a 12 ¾ length victory in the Grade 1 Donn Handicap at Gulfstream Park on February 6. "I'm pleased with the break he got and pleased with the way he's coming into the race."

Quality Road is 6-2-1 from nine starts, including a victory in the Grade 3 Hal's Hope in January in only other race as a 4-year-old. As a 3-year-old he won the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth, the Grade 1 Florida Derby and the Grade 2 Amsterdam, and finished third to Summer Bird in the Grade 1 Travers and second to him in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup, both over sloppy tracks.

"He's done everything you would expect him to do, in maturing, from age 3 to age 4," said Pletcher. "But, then, he's always been such a good-looking horse."

* * *

Trainer Todd Pletcher confirmed Friday that the filly Devil May Care, 10^th in the Kentucky Derby, would not start in the Belmont Stakes and instead await the Grade 1, $250,000 Mother Goose Stakes on June 26.

Even without a starter in the Belmont, Pletcher has a cadre of stakes runners waiting in the wings. In addition to Quality Road's expected start in the "Met Mile," Pletcher also plans to saddle a pair of female sprinters in the Grade 2, $150,000 Vagrancy on May 29 in Hour Glass and Malibu Prayer.

Pletcher added that he is also prepping runners for a number of stakes on the Belmont Day undercard on Saturday, June 5.

Take the Points, winner of the Grade 1 Jamaica Handicap at Belmont Park in October, will likely start in the Grade 1, $400,000 Woodford Reserve Manhattan, while two-time graded stakes winner Phola is expected in the Grade 1 Just A Game, a mile turf race for fillies and mares.

Additionally, Pletcher said that Grade 2 Risen Star winner Discreetly Mine was being pointed toward the Grade 2, $250,000 Woody Stephens at seven furlongs. Pletcher could start three in the Grade 2 True North, a six-furlong race also worth $250,000, with Checklist making his third start off a layoff and Bribon looking to regroup after a fifth-place finish in the Grade 3 Westchester at Belmont on April 30. Pletcher added that Munnings was a possibility for the race following an 11^th place finish in a sloppy edition of the Grade 2 Churchill Downs Stakes on the Derby Day undercard.

* * *

Trainer Rick Dutrow, Jr. could be a tough opponent in several upcoming graded stakes races for 3-year-olds here in New York.

"We're going to the one-mile race on Belmont Day [the Grade 1 Acorn on Saturday, June 5] with Amen Hallelujah," Dutrow said of the Grade 2 Santa Ynez and Grade 2 Davona Dale winner. Sixth in the 1 1/8^th-mile Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks last time out, the daughter of Montbrook breezed six furlongs in 1:14.82 today at Aqueduct.

Four-time graded stakes winner D' Funnybone, who joined Amen Hallelujah on the worktab today with 1:14.50 breeze at the Big A, will also cut back in distance and make his next start on the Belmont Stakes Day undercard, Dutrow said. Fourth as the heavy favorite in the Grade 3 Withers in his most recent outing, the Paul Pompa, Jr. colorbearer will try to return to the win column when he competes in the Grade 2 Woody Stephens, which will be contested at seven furlongs.

Dutrow added that Acting Happy, heroine of the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan a week ago, will make her next start in the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks on July 24, Opening Saturday at Saratoga.

Plans are undetermined for the 2009 Grade 1 Wood Memorial winner I Want Revenge, who has posted three published workouts since joining Dutrow's barn earlier this spring, and Yawanna Twist, a gritty fourth in last Saturday's Grade 1 Preakness.

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