Spansive

ELMONT, NY - A pair of stakes races, led by the featured GII Wonder Again S. for 3-year-old fillies on grass, will raise the curtain on the three-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival Thursday afternoon. Repole Stable's Spansive (Karakontie {Jpn}) will put her perfect two-for-two record on the line for Todd Pletcher while making her stakes debut in the eight-deep Wonder Again. Trainer Chad Brown will have three chances for his fifth Wonder Again win. He will saddle 5-2 morning-line favorite Revalita (Fr) (Recoletos {Fr}), a rallying second in the GII...

1st-Gulfstream, $70,000, Msw, 4-1, 3yo, f, 1mT, 1:36.29, fm, 1 1/4 lengths. SPANSIVE (f, 3, Karakontie {Jpn}--Fleur de Cerise, by Bernardini), off as the 2-1 favorite from a morning line of 6-1, was given a well-judged ride from the front by Jose Ortiz and had something left late to graduate nicely on debut in the Curlin Florida Derby day lid-lifter. Nicely into stride and asked for just enough speed to make the lead, the dark bay took them through an opening quarter in a modest :25.27 and controlled things through...