Belmont Park: Clement aims to keep hot hand in Poker Stakes

Tom Keyser

Right One will be looking to rebound in Wednesday's Grade 3, $150,000 Poker Stakes at Belmont Park.

ELMONT, N.Y. – They say good things come in threes, so Christophe Clement’s bandwagon will be overflowing when he sends out Right One in the Grade 3, $150,000 Poker Stakes, the featured event on a 10-race Fourth of July program.

Clement has captured the last two graded turf stakes here, with Summer Front in the Hill Prince on June 16 and Mystical Star in last Saturday’s New York, and leads all trainers with 17 grass victories at the meet.

Right One, third in the 2011 Poker, has not won in nearly a year since taking the Jaipur and was second in that race in his return to Belmont last month.

“He had a good work [last week], and the horse is in good form, so hopefully we can turn the tables from the Jaipur,” assistant trainer Christophe Lorieul said. “The key with him is to track another horse for as long as possible and to make a move at the very last minute. He has a good turn of foot, but not a great turn of foot.”

Right One should get ample pace up front as El Commodore has not had a horse in front of him early in more than two years and 2011 Poker runner-up Yield Bogey led to the stretch of the Jaipur in his 8-year-old bow.

“He almost won this race last year,” trainer Pat Kelly said of Yield Bogey. “We didn’t get a prep before the Jaipur. He’s completely fit now.”

Compliance Officer, whose only loss from eight starts for Bruce Brown came in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, comes off a popular score in the Kingston first time out this season.

“This is kind of a lull in the New York-bred races, so this seemed like a good opportunity to see how he stacks up against open company,” Brown said. “He doesn’t know he’s a New York-bred.”

Brown also entered 2010 Delta Downs Jackpot winner Gourmet Dinner, who was off the board in the $500,000 Colonial Turf Cup on June 16.

“He was very flat,” Brown said. “Maybe it was from racing at night or from shipping.”

Boots Ahead, Clear Attempt, Monument Hill, Queen’splatekitten, and Voodoo Storm also entered for turf.

Suburban rivals tune up

Stay Thirsty, To Honor and Serve, and Hymn Book are on a collision course for Saturday’s Grade 2 Suburban Handicap after posting sharp workouts Sunday.

Last year’s Travers winner, Stay Thirsty, breezed five furlongs in 1:00.05 on the main track under Javier Castellano.

“Both this work and the one before were like what we saw before the Travers,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “He’s in good form.”

Hymn Book (47.05 seconds, main track) and To Honor and Serve (47.56, training track) put in the morning’s second- and third-fastest half-mile drills on those surfaces.

Buffum, Mucho Macho Man, and Rogue Romance are likely Suburban starters as well.

The unbeaten Agave Kiss will be the one to catch and beat in the Grade 3 Victory Ride for 3-year-old fillies, a six-furlong race also to be run Saturday.

Aubby K, Emma’s Encore, Jamaican Smoke, Silverette, and Tu Endie Wei are probable starters.