Casse has contenders going long and short in turf stakes

ELMONT, N.Y. – The long and short of it Thursday is trainer Mark Casse has top contenders in both of the turf stakes scheduled at Belmont Park.

In the $150,000 Intercontinental Stakes at seven furlongs over the Widener turf, Casse sends out Mississippi Delta in a field of 10. In the inaugural running of the $200,000 Belmont Coronation Invitational, Casse sends out Return to Grace in a field of six who will travel 1 15/16 miles over the inner turf.

The Intercontinental and Belmont Coronation are two of three stakes – the $200,000 Astoria for juvenile fillies is the other – on a nine-race program that kicks off what the New York Racing Association is billing as a three-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival. There will be six stakes on an 11-race program Friday and 10 stakes – topped by the $1.5 million Belmont Stakes – on a 13-race program Saturday.

Mississippi Delta, a 4-year-old daughter of Giant’s Causeway, is coming off a second-place finish behind her Grade 1-winning stablemate Lexie Lou in the Grade 2 Nassau at Woodbine on May 29.

“I know we’re running back pretty quick, but she came out of it and trained really well,” Casse said Monday. “Seven-eighths is what drew me in there. She doesn’t get a lot of respect, but with the exception of one race, she comes to play each and every time.”

While Mississippi Delta is coming back on short rest, Distorted Beauty is making her first start in 201 days. A New York-bred daughter of Invasor, Distorted Beauty finished third in this race last year. She was entered and scratched from the May 30 Mount Vernon Stakes, in which her full sister, Invading Humor, finished second.

Like Distorted Beauty, Zindaya is a three-time winner over the Belmont turf, including a victory in this race last year. Trained by Christophe Clement then, Zindaya is now in the barn of Chad Brown after the ownership group e Five Racing Thoroughbreds bought her at the Keeneland November breeding stock auction last fall.

In her first start for Brown, Zindaya finished second to Lady Shipman in the License Fee Stakes on May 1.

Zindaya will break from post 8 under Javier Castellano.

Other contenders in the field include Miss Ella, Shrinking Violet, and Notte d’Oro.

Coronation: ‘Grace’ rebound bid

In the $200,000 Belmont Coronation, Return to Grace seeks a return to the form she displayed last fall when she won the Dueling Grounds Oaks at Kentucky Downs at 1 15/16 miles.

She was a nonfactor in three consecutive graded stakes after that and most recently finished third in a second-level allowance race here May 18 in which she set the pace.

“Her best races are coming from off the pace, but when you run that far, sometimes you find yourself on the lead,” Casse said. “We’ll try to hopefully get her back on track Thursday.”

Among the entrants in the Belmont Coronation is Achnaha, who is running back just five days after she won a first-level allowance race here going 1 3/8 miles.

Trainer George Weaver said that as long as the filly looks like she came out of the race in good order, he would run her back.

“She seems like the type of mare that can do it,” Weaver said. “We want to run her back if she’s good physically.”

Generosidade, a Uruguay-bred, beat males at odds of 71-1 in the Grade 2 San Luis Ray at Santa Anita in March and then ran second in the San Juan Capistrano on April 10. In her most recent start, Generosidade finished seventh in the Grade 3 Bewitch.

First post Wednesday is 1 p.m. Eastern.

◗ Following the races Thursday, there will be a question-and-answer session with Ahmed Zayat and Bob Baffert, the connections of 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the horsemen’s lounge in the clubhouse.

◗ There is a pick six carryover of $30,261 on Thursday that should help NYRA easily make its guarantee of $75,000 for that pool.