Brown has three, O'Brien ships two for Belmont Oaks

ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Aidan O’Brien shipped in four horses for Saturday’s Stars and Stripes card at Belmont Park – two colts for the $1 million Belmont Derby and two for the $750,000 Belmont Oaks.

For the Oaks, he shipped in Coral Beach and Just Wonderful to take on a trio of runners – Cafe Americano, Cambier Parc, and Newspaperofrecord – from the barn of Chad Brown as well as Concrete Rose, winner of the Grade 3 Edgewood Stakes at Churchill Downs two months ago.

The nine-horse Oaks field includes the European import Olendon, the Japanese import Jodie, and the maiden winner Dyna Passer.

Coral Beach is 2 for 10 and will be stretching out to 1 1/4 miles for the first time. She finished eighth in a pair of Group 1 stakes in France and Ireland before a narrow fourth-place finish in a 27-horse field in a Class 2 handicap at Royal Ascot.

“She came home very well and looked like if it was a little bit farther, she would have definitely been on the premises,” said T.J. Comerford, who traveled with the O’Brien contingent. “A mile and a quarter will be a big help to her.”

Just Wonderful was a multiple group stakes winner at 2 and finished fourth to Newspaperofrecord in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. She has competed in three consecutive Group 1 stakes in Europe this year, without success.

“She doesn’t seem to be the filly she was last year,” Comerford said. “But she’s traveled here well; she’s in good order. A mile and a quarter is no problem for her.”