Aveenu Malcainu back with New York-breds

Aveenu Malcainu has shown trainer Jeremiah Englehart a lot more in the morning than he has in the afternoon.

Englehart is hoping that a return to New York-bred company will jump-start Aveenu Malcainu when he runs in Monday’s $125,000 Mike Lee Stakes for New York-bred 3-year-old males over seven furlongs at Belmont Park.

Aveenu Malcainu, a son of Into Mischief, went 2 for 2 against New York-breds last summer at Saratoga, including a victory in the Funny Cide Stakes. He ended his juvenile campaign with a seventh-place finish as the favorite in the Grade 1 Champagne and a third as the odds-on choice in the Grade 2 Nashua.

He made his 3-year-old debut in the Grade 3 Bay Shore, in which he had the lead in midstretch, but ultimately finished third behind National Flag and Engage.

Englehart is adding blinkers to Aveenu Malcainu’s equipment.

“We’re trying blinkers on him this time to see if that keeps his focus,” Englehart said. “If you would have told me at the top of the stretch he was going to get beat, I would have never believed you. To me, he’s got a lot of talent, he has to prove it in the afternoon.”

Chris Englehart, the father of Jeremiah, sends out Retonova, who is 2 for 2 including a victory in a division of the New York Stallion Stakes on April 22.

Sea Foam, who ended his 2-year-old season with a victory in the Notebook Stakes, makes his 3-year-old debut in this spot for Christophe Clement with a work tab littered with bullets.

“He needs to run,” Clement said. “I think he’s more a miler or a mile and a sixteenth, but we’ll start there.”