Belmont: Pompay ponders next move with Currency Swap

Hopeful winner Currency Swap returned to his Monmouth Park base on Tuesday, but will not return to the track until the beginning of next week as his connections consider what to do next with their undefeated 2-year-old colt.

Trainer Terri Pompay said that Currency Swap “was a little tired” coming out of Monday’s Hopeful but by Friday morning “he was playing a little bit.” Pompay said that Currency Swap will just be ridden around the shed this weekend before returning to the track next week.

Meanwhile, Pompay said the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on Nov. 5 is definitely the goal for Currency Swap and she must decide whether to run him once more between now and then. If he does run, that race would most likely be the Grade 1 Champagne here on Oct. 8. Pompay’s initial thought immediately following the Hopeful was to train Currency Swap into the Breeders’ Cup.

“I nominated him to the Champagne but I’m not committed to running there,” Pompay said Friday. “The owners said train him and if you think you’d like to run in the Champagne, that’s fine, if you want to train him into the Breeders’ Cup, that’s fine too.’’

Four horses – Fly So Free, Timber Country, War Pass, and Uncle Mo – have pulled off the Champagne-BC Juvenile double. Is It True, Rhythm, and Unbridled’s Song came out of the Champagne to win the Juvenile.

Royal Delta: Beldame or Spinster

After putting in a workout this weekend at Saratoga, Alabama winner Royal Delta will be shipped to Belmont Park to continue preparations for her next start, which could come in the Grade 1, $350,000 Beldame Invitational here on Oct. 1 or the Grade 1, $500,000 Spinster at Keeneland on Oct. 9.

Trainer Bill Mott said he’s not sure if he wants his 3-year-old filly to take on Woodward winner Havre de Grace before the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic. And Mott definitely doesn’t want to run against both Havre de Grace and Blind Luck, should the latter alter her plans of running the Lady’s Secret at Santa Anita to run in the Beldame.

“If Havre de Grace and Blind Luck both run maybe I wouldn’t run,’’ Mott said. “I’d just as soon run against them in the Breeders’ Cup. I want to keep an open mind and keep my options open. We did win at Keeneland in the spring.’’

In April, Royal Delta won a first-level allowance race over Keeneland’s synthetic surface by three lengths. Last October, she won a maiden race at Belmont by 12.