Belmont Park: Dayatthespa eyeing bigger with You Go West Girl as prep

There are no graded stakes on Sunday’s 10-race card at Belmont Park, but a Grade 1 winner returns to action in the $90,000 You Go West Girl, one of three stakes for New York-breds along with divisions of the $100,000 New York Stallion for 3-year-olds.

The You Go West Girl is for older New York-bred fillies and mares and ostensibly serves as a prep race for the Mount Vernon on the Showcase Day program of June 1. But the returning Dayatthespa may have bigger fish to fry – perhaps the Grade 1 Just A Game a week later – as she launches her 4-year-old campaign for Chad Brown in the one-mile race scheduled for the Widener turf.

Dayatthespa won her juvenile debut at Saratoga against New York-breds, but has run exclusively in open stakes company ever since. She reeled off five consecutive victories to begin her 3-year-old season, capped by a front-running score in the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at the expense of Centre Court, a five-time graded stakes winner who recently captured the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley.

Six weeks later, Dayatthespa was favored in the Matriarch, in which she established good early position along the inside. Approaching the backstretch, however, she spooked and attempted to leap the inner rail, losing her action at a cost of several lengths. She finished fifth, and emerged from the debacle with a gash on her right foreleg.

“For an hour after the race, I kept closing my eyes hoping I was going to wake up from a nightmare,” Brown recalled afterward. “I had been planning for that race for six months.”

Dayatshespa wintered at Palm Meadows, and signaled her readiness last Sunday by breezing five furlongs over Belmont’s inner turf course in 1:00 flat.

Elusive Rumour, Kibosh, Lady On the Run, My Jopia and Mystic City also entered for turf. Erin Enchanted and Go Unbridled entered for the main track only.

The early pick four kicks off with divisions of the New York Stallion at 6 1/2 furlongs.

Seven colts and geldings entered the Times Square division (race 2), with Laila’s Jazz and Chapman expected to view for favoritism.

Laila’s Jazz has been freshened since a win over $75,000 optional claimers on March 17, and has trained very well for trainer Gary Contessa. A colt by Smooth Jazz, he was an allowance winner at Belmont off a similar short layoff last fall.

Chapman began his career with two wins on wet tracks at Aqueduct’s winter meet, before a couple of troubled breaks from the gate against open company. He will add blinkers, and comes off a bullet half-mile workout last Saturday.

Belief System, Petrocelli, and the entry of Madam I’m Adam and Treblemaker complete the field.

Six fillies entered the Park Avenue division (race 3), in which Lovely Syn and Kilnockagain will attempt to keep their perfect records intact.

Lovely Syn won her first two starts by a combined nine lengths for Dominick Schettino, and she could be set to improve, judging from a bullet half-mile work over Belmont’s main track last week.

Kilnockagain’s two wins for Rudy and Gustavo Rodriguez were by an aggregate 19 lengths.

Bit Bustin, Jerusalem Stone, Keep Bustin, and Sharon Spagetti also entered.