Blugrascat's Smile a live longshot in turf feature
It is Black-Eyed Susan Day down at Pimlico on Friday, but up at Belmont Park, it is first-level New York-bred allowance day.
That’s the allowance condition that accompanies an $80,000 claiming option in race 8, the highest-class fare on a nine-race card Friday. There are but seven entrants in the race, carded for about one mile on turf, but at least the group is a competitive one.
Favored at 3-1 on the track’s morning line is Summer Candy, but he in no way has to win this race. Summer Candy makes his first start since Nov. 19, and while trainer Christophe Clement is a reliable trainer with horses returning after long breaks, Summer Candy has no clear edge on several others here. He raced three times last year at 2 and won his maiden second out while running for the first time on Lasix. Summer Candy only won by a nose but did beat 11 rivals, with second-place finisher Extinct Charm returning to win the Damon Runyon Stakes for New York-breds in December at Aqueduct.
The horse Extinct Charm edged in the Damon Runyon, E J’s Legacy, is among the entrants in the Friday feature and is back on turf for the first time since his own narrow maiden win Nov. 29 at Aqueduct. He starts for the first time since January, but trainer Linda Rice gets excellent marks with layoff runners of this ilk.
The pace should come from the outside-drawn Spin Cycle and stretch-out sprinter Uncle Youdge, who is drawn in post 4. Uncle Youdge makes his first start with New York-breds and is bred to stay the mile (He’s by Sidney’s Candy and out of a Rock Hard Ten mare). He’s a threat if jockey Joe Bravo can shake loose from Spin Cycle, but the pick to win, presumably at something close to his 8-1 morning line, is Blugrascat’s Smile.
Blugrascat’s Smile, who races with blinkers added by trainer Charlton Baker, had progressive form as a 2-year-old and turned in a career-best performance April 22 after a 10-week layoff. He showed little last fall in his only turf start, but that was during a two-race experiment with blinkers, and as a son of Bluegrass Cat and a Dixie Brass mare, Blugrascat’s Smile has a quietly appealing grass pedigree.