Fleet Indian unbeaten and untested

ELMONT, N.Y. - Horsemen and horseplayers eagerly await Saratoga, so the handful of weekday cards remaining at Belmont will be something less than spectacular.

Presented as exhibit A is Thursday's program, which includes five maiden races, two low-priced claimers, and a pair of entry-level allowance races.

The featured eighth race is at 1 1/16 miles and promises some intrigue, for among the eight fillies and mares is the unbeaten Fleet Indian, a 3-year-old daughter of Indian Charlie who has rolled through three New York-bred conditions by a combined 17 lengths.

Trained by Jimmy Toner, was a poorly kept secret at 2-5 when she won her six-furlong debut at Aqueduct back in April under a hand ride. Two more dominating allowance wins at miserly odds followed here at Belmont. The first came at a mile on the second day of the meet, and the next came at 1 1/8 miles a month later, when she tracked a slow pace and drew off while merely shown the whip by leading rider John Velazquez.

Although Fleet Indian has been visually impressive, she hasn't knocked anyone's socks off when measured against the clock. Her Beyer Figures thus far - 77, 73, and 78 - are not exactly stopwatch-busting stuff.

"She's a big, lumbering type, and still a little on the green side," said Toner. "She hasn't been tested. The next thing for her is to beat open company and put a good number up there."

In all likelihood, Fleet Indian will have to put up a good number, because three of her rivals - Mambo Bell, Penny Dream, and Swinging - earned better figures last time out.

, also a three-time winner against state-breds, necked Mambo Bell for second last month behind the stakes-placed Taittinger Rose. But the main threat to Fleet Indian may come from Swinging, who breaks from the outermost stall.

An Ogden Mills Phipps homebred, Swinging was dismissed by the bettors in her May 14 unveiling for Shug McGaughey and ran like a 16-1 shot to finish a distant sixth.

was stretched to a route and treated with Lasix for her second start, however, and improved a ton. Dispatched as the 2-1 choice, she was in the thick of things from the opening bell before widening to a 10-length score beneath Velazquez.

Velazquez, who has won twice on Fleet Indian, sticks with Swinging on Thursday.

Fleet Indian will be ridden by Edgar Prado, who was aboard for her initial allowance win.

Completing the field are Positively Wild, My Girl Natalie, Oh Pine, and Two Hollys.