Bruce Brown has all his bases covered

According to the weather handicappers, rain and wind are a sure thing on Friday, and though the featured eighth race at Belmont Park is scheduled for the inner turf, trainer Bruce Brown appears prepared for any eventuality.

Brown has gotten off to a fine start with three wins early at the meet, and he has three of the eight entrants in a six-furlong, third-level optional $80,000 claimer.

Kingsford Drive, entered for dirt only, upped his record to 3-2-0 over the main Belmont track when wiring a $40,000 claimer for Brown on May 3, earning a Beyer Figure of 94 that was his best since splashing home in the mud here last fall while earning a 100.

Kingsford Drive is part of a La Marca Stable entry with the for-turf-entered Strong Impact, who would be making his first start since finishing third to multiple stakes winner Sum of the Parts last December should this race remain on the grass.

Strong Impact, now 8, won back-to-back races against open company when brought back last year, taking a second-level optional claimer at Belmont and the Fiddler’s Patriot Stakes at Saratoga.

“This horse is as genuine as they come,” Brown said. “He’s a hard-knocking campaigner. He’s so smart, he pretty much trains himself. You keep him happy, lead him over there, and he does his thing.”

Brown also entered Spring to the Sky, who was beaten less than five lengths in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.

Spring to the Sky comes off a throw-out race in the Grade 3 Commonwealth on Polytrack, which followed a trio of respectable efforts in Florida under less-than-ideal circumstances, beginning with a close fourth in his 2014 debut.

Hear the Footsteps, who swept his three starts at Belmont’s 2013 sprint-summer meet for Linda Rice, would be making his first start since finishing fifth in the Mohawk if the $85,000 race stays on turf.

Also eyeing their initial grass starts of the season are Mop Head, who has not been out since running fifth in the Troy last summer, and has since changed hands to trainer David Cannizzo; and the import Morpheus, who won on soft turf in England last year, and set the pace in his recent U.S. debut on Keeneland’s Polytrack for trainer Bill Mott.

Honorable Dillon, last year’s Hutcheson winner, and Big Business, entered for the main track only, complete the lineup.