Dawly poised to get job done

ELMONT, N.Y. – Dawly has not won a race at Belmont Park in three years, but he looks well spotted to break that skid when he faces four rivals in Thursday’s $85,000 optional-claiming feature going 1 1/16 miles over the main track.

Dawly, coming off a second-place finish in a higher-priced optional claimer at Aqueduct on April 25, will break from the outside under Angel Arroyo. Arroyo has ridden Dawly in his last seven starts, recording four wins.

Trainer Rudy Rodriguez believes two turns is “a little easier for him” than the one turn of Thursday’s race, but in order to run two turns at this time of year, Rodriguez would have to ship him out of town.

Dawly has a record of 1-5-1 from eight lifetime starts at Belmont Park. The win came in a $50,000 claiming race on July 14, 2011 when trained by Steve Asmussen. In his last four starts at Belmont, he has three seconds and a third.

“He’s doing very good, he’s very consistent, he always runs his race,” Rodriguez said.

In his last 16 starts, Dawly has been worse than third only once, that being a fourth-place finish in the Grade 3 Excelsior Stakes.

Don Dulce, who finished sixth in the Excelsior, is also in this field. He comes off a second-place finish in a race similar to this on May 9. That race was run over a muddy track.

Mitch Friedman claimed Don Dulce for $75,000 in January on behalf of Blue Stork Stables, and he said he trained the horse a little differently entering his last race.

“I did more and maybe that helped him a little,” Friedman said. “He seemed to move forward when I did more with him.”

Don Dulce and Balance of Power are both being offered for the optional claiming price of $80,000.

Mr Palmer is taking a class drop after being beaten by Ground Transport in two listed stakes. Bill Mott, trainer of Mr Palmer, is hoping to change tactics Thursday. Mr Palmer stalked the pace from second in his last two starts, and Mott would like him to come from farther back.

“As a 3-year-old he was having success as a deep closer,” Mott said. “I would just maybe like to try that one time, let him drop back and let him close and see what happens.”

Junior Alvarado will ride Mr Palmer from the rail.

Summer Sunset figures to move forward in his second start off a layoff for trainer Bruce Levine. He finished fifth in the same race in which Dawly was second at Aqueduct on April 25. Joel Rosario rides from post 2.