Bye Bye Melvin may go for longer Belmont Derby next

Bye Bye Melvin, winner of Saturday’s Grade 3 Saranac Stakes going a mile, could stretch out to 1 1/4 miles in the Grade 1, $250,000 Belmont Derby Invitational on Oct. 3, trainer Graham Motion said Sunday.

“I think I’ll consider it now, having run against this competition and the way he handled it,” Motion said. “With what his sister has been able to do, I have more confidence to do it.” Bye Bye Melvin is a half-sister to Mean Mary, who has won three stakes from 1 1/4 miles to 1 1/2 miles. Most recently, she was beaten a head by Rushing Fall in the Grade 1 Diana at Saratoga.

Bye Bye Melvin, a son of Uncle Mo, wore down the pace-setting Don Juan Kitten to win the Saranac by a head. The race was run over a soft inner turf course. The final time for the mile run over a course on which a mile is not typically run was 1:39.92. Both Bye Bye Melvin and Don Juan Kitten were assigned an 88 Beyer Speed Figure.

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Meanwhile, Motion confirmed that he would train Mean Mary up to the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf on Nov. 7 at Keeneland.

“She was running all winter, it’s a long year for those guys if you try to squeeze too many out of them,” Motion said.