Break Curfew well spotted but must avoid a speed duel

ELMONT, N.Y. – It might have been a tad ambitious to run Break Curfew in the Grade 2 Prioress Stakes at Saratoga two weeks after she was claimed for $75,000. Following a fourth-place finish in the Prioress, Break Curfew is back in a more realistic spot Wednesday, topping a competitive six-horse field in a first-level allowance race that serves as the feature on Belmont Park’s eight-race card.

On Aug. 17, Break Curfew won a $75,000 claiming race in gate-to-wire fashion and was taken out of the race by Toby Sheets, the assistant to trainer Steve Asmussen. When the Prioress came up a short field, Sheets and Asmussen took a shot at trying to get the 3-year-old filly graded stakes placed. Break Curfew missed third by a head while beaten 4 1/4 lengths in total by Royal Charlotte.

“I thought she ran great,” said Sheets, who will saddle Break Curfew for her new owners, Townsend Sparks and Paradise Farms Corp. “It was a little quick back timing-wise.”

Break Curfew will have had 46 days between starts and is returning to a track on which she owns a win and a third in two starts. Break Curfew has speed and the rail but may have to avoid a potential speed duel as there are others in here who have shown early foot.

If Break Curfew is able to get out of the gate swiftly under Manny Franco, she will likely be chased by Our Circle of Love, Alisio, and Concerned.

Our Circle of Love makes her third start off a layoff for trainer Michelle Nevin. In her first start back, she stumbled at the break chased the pace and faded to last. In her next start, on Aug. 31, she opened up two lengths and was run down by Arrifana, a filly who came back to win a second-level allowance at Laurel to remain unbeaten in three starts.

“Her first time back she stumbled and that cost her,” Nevin said. “Her next race was so much better – she showed what she could really do.”

Our Circle of Love is cutting back to six furlongs, a distance at which she has a win and three seconds.

Concerned won her debut here on June 23 in gate-to-wire fashion for trainer Mark Hennig, but has not run since. Hennig explained that Concerned injured a hock and “it just took a little longer to heal.”

Hennig believes Concerned could sit off of horses, but noted, “You don’t want to have to grab her too much.”

The Asmussen barn also sends out Al Shamkah, who is making her first start in the U.S. and first since March 22. Her running style in Dubai suggests she will be coming from off the pace.

Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin has the uncoupled entry of Alisio and Sinwaan. Alisio was third in this condition last out while Sinwaan was seventh.