Godolphin gears up for New York summer

JAMAICA, N.Y. - Dubai World Cup winner Street Cry is one of 16 Godolphin horses stabled at Belmont Park who are being pointed for late spring and summer campaigns in New York.

Street Cry, who arrived at Belmont Park with the other Godolphin horses on April 22, worked in the slop on Thursday. The official time for the five-furlong work, which was completed around the dogs, the cones that protect the inside of the track, was 1:08.65, breezing.

Laurent Barbarin, an assistant to trainer Saeed bin Suroor, said Street Cry was merely stretching his legs.

"It was the first time he worked since traveling," Barbarin said. "It was very easy; just something to get him back in touch with the track."

Barbarin declined to reveal where Street Cry will run next. Obvious targets are the $250,000 Brooklyn Handicap, a 1 1/8-mile race on June 15 at Belmont, or the $500,000 Massachusetts Handicap, also at nine furlongs, at Suffolk Downs on June 1.

Tommy Albertrani, Suroor's head assistant, is expected in New York shortly after the Kentucky Derby, where Essence of Dubai was scheduled run on Saturday.

Among the other Godolphin stakes winners stabled in New York are E Dubai, who is being pointed to the $750,000 Met Mile on May 27, and Express Tour, who won the Jerome last year at Belmont. Ibn Al Haitham, third in the United Arab Emirates Derby to Essence of Dubai, is also here.

Barbarin said Essence of Dubai and Imperial Gesture, Godolphin's Kentucky Oaks starter, will join the New York contingent on Sunday.

English colt points for major stakes

England-based trainer Philip Mitchell will try to work his magic again on this side of the Atlantic. Mitchell, who won the 1999 Brooklyn Handicap with Running Stag, has sent Caughnawaga to New York for a possible start in the Met Mile or Brooklyn.

Caughnawaga, a 4-year-old son of Indian Ridge, was scheduled to arrive in New York Friday evening and enter quarantine at Belmont.

Mitchell, who trains the horse for Richard Cohen, Running Stag's owner, said he hoped to start Caughnawaga in an allowance race later this month at Belmont before deciding between the Met Mile and Brooklyn.

"His style should suit American racing," Mitchell said. "He has tactical speed as Stag had. This is a pretty neat horse."

In 13 starts, Caughnawaga has won a pair of mile turf races in England. He finished 12th in his lone dirt start.

Mass Cap next stop for Evening Attire

Evening Attire, who splashed home a 10-length winner over three rivals in an allowance race in the slop on Thursday, is more than likely headed to the Massachusetts Handicap.

Trainer Pat Kelly said another option for Evening Attire, who beat Street Cry last year at Aqueduct in the Discovery Handicap, is the $500,000 Hawthorne Gold Cup on May 18.

"Right now the priority looks like the Mass Cap," said Kelly, who noted Evening Attire's co-owners, Joseph and Mary Grant, are from Boston.

Jockey race may go down to wire

At the conclusion of Friday's card, Shaun Bridgmohan, in pursuit of his first New York riding title, was tied for the lead with John Velazquez.

Bridgmohan and Velazquez, who won Aqueduct's spring title last year, each had 32 winners. Velazquez rode at Churchill Downs on Thursday and Friday and was scheduled to ride Saarland in the Kentucky Derby on Saturday. Velazquez will return to New York for the final day of the Aqueduct meet on Sunday.

Westchester opening day Belmont feature

The $100,000-added Westchester Handicap, a Grade 3, is the feature of the opening-day card at Belmont on Wednesday. Among the probables for the mile race are Griffinite (114 pounds); Country Be Gold (113); Windsor Castle (113); Tempest Fugit (113); Comic Genius (112); Dayton Flyer (112); and Free of Love (112).

Left Bank, assigned 120 pounds as the Westchester highweight, is expected to run in the $100,000-added Bold Ruler on May 11.