Friday TimeformUS Highlight Horse: Dream Central lands in better spot second off the claim
Belmont at the Big A | Race 4 | Post Time 2:25 p.m. (ET)
This starter optional claimer seems pretty wide open with no clear favorite. If I had to pick out a most likely winner, it would be Settling Storm (#3), who put in a strong effort at a similar level last time. She didn’t have great early position that day, never seeing the inside while advancing outside horses. Yet she made a long, sustained move into contention and was finishing well at the end. She had previously done her best work when she was more forwardly placed, but she’s unlikely to make the lead here with other speed signed on.
Next On Stage (#8) may not be quick enough to outrun Spooky Lady to the front end, but she showed in her narrow defeat two back that she’s capable of sitting off a rival and still running a top race. That effort, for which she earned a career-best 105 TimeformUS Speed Figure, makes her one of the horses to beat here. However, she didn’t run as well last time when hustled to the front before fading late.
I think there are some more intriguing options at bigger prices. One of those is Miss Bonnie T (#5), who has been strangely handled since getting switched to a different barn earlier this year. She had always been a horse that focused on turf routes, but she’s been entered in sprints in each of her last 4 starts. She’s finally stretching back out to a distance that she’s handled in the past. The problem is that her form is poor, but perhaps this return to routing a slight drop in class can wake her up.
My top pick is Dream Central (#10), who is another looking to recapture some of her prior good form. It’s obviously been a while since she’s been competitive in a race, but she did run well over this course at a similar distance last November against a tougher field of New York-bred allowance foes. She was compromised by a slow pace that day but was finishing well for fourth once steered outside in the lane. Since then she faced much tougher off the layoff at 6 furlongs and had no chance on dirt. However, she was claimed out of that race two back by Joe Sharp, who might have put her in too ambitious of a spot in her first start for his barn last time. She did show some signs of life, running on late despite encountering some stretch traffic. Now she’s dropping down to the right level in a race with some pace, and the price should be fair.