Clement loads up as Belmont returns to five-day week

ELMONT, N.Y. – After racing just one Wednesday through the first six weeks of the meet, Belmont Park returns to a five-day schedule for the remaining five weeks of the season.

The five-day schedule begins this Wednesday with a nine-race card, with a pick-6 carryover of $29,401 beginning in race 4.

Trainer Christophe Clement will be quite active Wednesday with five runners in four races, including strong representation in two allowance races.

Clement has two of the five entered in race 3, a $90,000 first-level allowance for fillies and mares going 1 1/4 miles over the inner turf course. Bengala and Secede finished second and third behind Creating Thinking in a similar spot going 1 1/2 miles at Keeneland on April 25.

Creative Thinking came out of that race to win the Keertana Stakes at Churchill Downs by five lengths.

Bengala, beaten a length on April 25, finished 3 1/4 lengths ahead of her stablemate after breaking slowly and having a wide trip throughout.

“Maybe a bit too far,” Clement said. “This is a mile and a quarter, which may be a better distance.”

Bengala’s lone victory came at 1 1/4 miles in her career debut in Ireland in April 2017.

Joel Rosario will replace Julien Leparoux in the saddle on Bengala.

Rosario rode Secede in that April 25 race. They set the pace, then gave way in the stretch, getting beat 4 1/4 lengths.

“Secede is usually a free galloper, close to the lead,” said Clement, who will have Jose Ortiz aboard Secede. “She’s been training well. Not the soundest horse, not easy to train, but both [fillies] are doing well at the moment.”

Secede looks like she could be the primary speed in what will be a five-horse field.

Double Cast is only 1 for 14, but that win came at 1 1/4 miles at Belmont. She was beaten just a half-length when third last month going 1 1/16 miles in her first start off a six-month layoff.

Violet Blue and Untaken complete the field on turf. Frostie Anne is entered for the main track.

In race 8, a first-level allowance for New York-bred females at 1 1/16 miles, Clement will send out Seeking the Blue, seeking to make amends for a sixth-place finish sprinting at Aqueduct on April 18.

“She raced a touch unfit and disappointingly at Aqueduct,” Clement said. “She’s trained well and she’s a fit horse now, a sound horse, and I expect her to be very competitive.”

Jose Ortiz rides Seeking the Blue from post 5.

Might Be is the horse to beat in this spot as she makes her second start off a six-month layoff. In her lone start this year, she finished fourth, beaten 2 1/4 lengths by Holiday Disguise, in the $200,000 Critical Eye Stakes going a mile.