Encryption has options from the outside in Thursday feature
Several 3-year-olds who have run against some of the top horses in the division look to clear the preliminary allowance condition in Thursday’s eighth race at Belmont Park.
Cool Samurai, Encryption, and Surfing U S A have all run in Grade 1 or Grade 2 stakes this season and will attract solid support in the one-mile race.
Encryption makes his first start away from Monmouth Park, where he followed a front-running maiden win for Kelly Breen with a second in the Grade 3 Pegasus and a third in the Long Branch before giving futile chase to Bayern in the Grade 1 Haskell.
Encryption breaks from the outside post in the field of eight, which affords the colt some tactical options depending on the break.
“He’s a big, strong, talented colt ... we’ve trained him to sit behind horses,” Breen said. “He’s taken dirt.”
Cool Samurai was unveiled at Belmont last fall by John Shirreffs and made up a dozen lengths after checking at the start to finish second behind Wicked Strong. He graduated at Santa Anita two months later and makes his first start since running sixth in the Grade 2 Robert B. Lewis on Feb. 8.
After running third in the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby, Surfing U S A was favored for his return at Saratoga but stumbled badly at the start and faded as the 8-5 choice.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 5 Surfing U S A. Trainer Todd Pletcher is 22 for 67 with a $3.90 ROI over the past five years on dirt going from sprints to routes in the second start following a layoff. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
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Mosler, fourth behind eventual Belmont Futurity winner In Trouble before wiring maidens here last fall for Bill Mott, makes his second start of the year after becoming fractious at the gate and dueling for the lead at Saratoga in the same race as Surfing U S A.
M J Plus, second-best in all five of his preliminary allowance races at Parx Racing earlier this year, was subsequently purchased by David Jacobson and comes off yet another runner-up finish in a starter allowance at the Spa.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 1 M J Plus. Trainer David Jacobson is 5 for 31 with a $0.80 ROI over the past five years on dirt at Belmont with horses that had the field’s top Beyer last out, within two weeks of their last race. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
KEY CONTENDERS
Encryption (Last 3 Beyers: 82-94-89)
◗ This will be his first start in a one-turn race.
◗ Trainer Breen was 3 for 9 ($2.46 return on investment) shipping to Saratoga this year.
Cool Samurai (Last 3 Beyers: 78-80-77)
◗ Belmont’s main track has played to his stretch-running style during the early stages of the meet.
Surfing U S A (Last 3 Beyers: 54-88-85)
◗ He lost all chance when he fell to his face at the start of his Aug. 16 return and ran the second quarter-mile in 22.22 seconds before fading.