Belmont Park

After a few hours of sleep, trainer Michael McCarthy was back at Pimlico Race Course Sunday morning, quietly talking about Rombauer (Twirling Candy)'s emphatic victory in the 146th GI Preakness S. Saturday and looking ahead to the June 5GI Belmont Stakes. Bred and raced by John and Diane Fradkin, Rombauer rallied to a convincing 3 1/2-length score Saturday and stopped the clock in 1:53.62, the eighth-fastest time since the race distance was changed to 1 3/16 miles in 1925. While McCarthy, 50, acquired plenty of experience in Triple Crown races...

Bye Bye (Into Mischief) did it tough from her widest gate in a field of 11 for Saturday's GIII Soaring Softly S. at Belmont Park, but overcame a fair bit of ground loss to remain unbeaten in two turf starts while giving her all-conquering sire his second new graded winner on the afternoon. Away alertly, the $140,000 Keeneland September yearling raced five or six off the inside as longshot Lexinator (Fed Biz) set the early pace from 'TDN Rising Star' Star Devine (Ire) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}). Eric Cancel allowed Bye...

8th-Belmont, $89,240, Alw (NW1$X), Opt. Clm ($80,000), 5-14, 3yo, 1m, 1:38.22, ft, 3 lengths. STAGE RAIDER (c, 3, Pioneerof the Nile--Stage Magic {Broodmare of the Year, GSP, $133,981}, by Ghostzapper) would have given those who backed him into 1-20 favoritism a bit of a scare in upper stretch, but he rallied through a tight spot at the fence to clear his first allowance condition Friday at Belmont. The half-brother to Triple Crown winner Justify (Scat Daddy, Horse of the Year, Ch. 3yo Colt, MGISW, $3,798,000); and to The Lieutenant (Street...

Arguably the most interesting graded event being held this weekend not named the Preakness, Saturday's seven-furlong GIII Soaring Softly S. has attracted an evenly matched group of 11 sophomore fillies headed by a pair of 'TDN Rising Stars.' Tobys Heart (Jack Milton) got the 'Rising Star' nod off a spectacular debut over 5 1/2 furlongs of the Matt Winn turf course at Churchill just shy of a year ago, overcoming a slow break to score by the better part of seven lengths. An easy winner of Saratoga's Bolton Landing S....

A 475,000gns Tattersalls October yearling purchase by Mike Ryan on behalf of owner Peter Brant, In Italian (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) was bet into 7-5 favoritism for her Mar. 28 bow at Tampa, but found trouble enough at the quarter pole and again 100 yards later to cost her a debut graduation. Kicked immediately into the lead here by Irad Ortiz, Jr., In Italian enjoyed a fairly soft time of things on the engine, clocking unpressured fractions of :24.03 and :49.39. Challenged briefly approaching the stretch, In Italian rebroke and coasted...

Trainer Chad Brown sent out Klaravich Stables' duo of Crowded Trade (More Than Ready) and Risk Taking (Medaglia d'Oro) to breeze in company Saturday, while Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher had Whisper Hill Farm's Unbridled Honor (Honor Code) work in company with older graded stakes winner Fearless (Ghostzapper) at Belmont Park in preparation for next Saturday's GI Preakness S. Risk Taking, winner of the GIII Withers S. and seventh-place finisher in the GII Wood Memorial S., worked outside of narrow GIII Gotham S. second and Wood Memorial third Crowded...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 8th-BEL, $90K, Msw, 3/up, f/m, 1 1/16mT, post time: 4:38 p.m. Seth Klarman's Klaravich Stables has successfully shopped the Tattersalls October sale over the past several years, using the services of Mike Ryan to acquire MGISWs Domestic Spending (GB) (Kingman {GB}) and Newspaperofrecord (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) and GISW Digital Age (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}). INFINITE POTENTIAL (IRE) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) was purchased by Ryan for 300,000gns at the 2018 October sale, a handful of months after her half-sister Ejtyah (GB) (Frankel {GB}) finished...

The New York Racing Association (NYRA) announced Tuesday that a limited number of tickets for the 2021 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival will go on sale to the public on Thursday, May 6 starting at 10 a.m. ET via Ticketmaster.com. The three-day festival kicks off Thursday, June 3 and is headlined, of course, by the GI Belmont S. June 5. NYRA will offer advance pre-sale opportunities to 2020 Belmont Stakes ticket buyers, along with NYRA Bets Elite, Preferred and Bronze members, beginning on Wednesday, May 5. Eligible groups will be notified...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 8th-BEL, $80K, Msw, 3yo/up, f/m, 6fT, post time: 4:19 p.m. ET CROWDING OUT (Street Boss), a $55K in utero purchase at Keeneland November in 2017, fetched $37K as a KEESEP yearling in 2019, but blossomed into a $230K OBS April breezer after working an eighth of a mile in a slick :9 4/5. That price was the second most expensive of this sire's 20 juveniles sold last year. The chestnut's dam Pride of Place (A.P. Indy)--who sadly passed away in 2020--is a daughter of French...

Following the issuance of detailed racetrack health and safety protocols by New York State, Belmont Park will re-open to a limited number of spectators Saturday, the New York Racing Association announced Wednesday. Spectators must purchase track admission in advance and adhere to strict health and safety protocols designed to mitigate the risk of COVID-19. "NYRA has been working collectively toward this goal since the start of the pandemic and we are thrilled to be able to welcome fans back to Belmont Park," said NYRA President & CEO Dave O'Rourke. "We...

Several GI Kentucky Oaks-bound fillies put in their final major workouts Saturday morning leading up to Friday's Churchill Downs Classic. Leading the Churchill Downs worktab, Phoenix Thoroughbred's Crazy Beautiful (Liam's Map), winner of the Mar. 27 GII Gulfstream Park Oaks in her most recent start, worked a half-mile in :49.20 under Danny Ramsey for trainer Kenny McPeek. "She had a breeze last week in :59, which was a bullet work," McPeek said. "So today I just went a half with her, something simple, again just a basic maintenance work. She's...

1st-Belmont, $90,000, Msw, 4-24, 3yo/up, 7f, 1:23.56, ft, 3/4 length. FIRST CAPTAIN (c, 3, Curlin--America {GSW & MGISP, $580,532}, by A.P. Indy) re-rallied late to kick his career off with a promising victory in the Belmont opener Saturday. The $1.5-million Fasig-Tipton Saratoga '19 co-topper and first foal out of GSW and MGISP America was let go at 3-1 off a 9-5 morning line here for the typically patient Shug McGaughey. He broke cleanly enough, and moved up to track from the pocket behind favored fellow firster Mahaamel (Into Mischief)--a $700,000...