Legend rolling heading into Easy Goer Stakes

Legend didn’t run all that badly at Gulfstream Park this year in his first three starts, but he looked like a changed horse when scoring a fast win against maidens last time out in his first start at Belmont Park. His trainer, James Bond, hopes he continues to make progress in the $150,000 Easy Goer Stakes for 3-year-olds Saturday and said there’s a good reason for his recent leap forward.

“He had a testicle that was bothering him, and we took it out after the last race at Gulfstream,” Bond said Thursday. “He was slow switching leads. He wasn’t comfortable. I think I have a different horse now.”

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Now a ridgling, Legend got a 97 Beyer Speed Figure in that May 4 maiden race, a career best and the best figure earned by any of the nine horses entered in the Easy Goer. Based at Saratoga, Legend has followed up on that win with three drills on the Oklahoma training track, including a four-furlong breeze in 47 seconds May 31 that was the best of 21 at the distance that morning.

“He’s just been training awesome,” Bond said. “Hopefully, the future’s bright for him.”

To prevail in the 1 1/16-mile Easy Goer, Legend will have to outrun a pair of last-out winners trained by Todd Pletcher. No Surrender beat a first-level allowance field at Churchill Downs on the Kentucky Derby undercard last time out. Misconnect returned from a layoff of almost eight months to win a first-level allowance at Belmont, where he is 2 for 2.

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Once considered for the Belmont, Kid Cruz entered here instead, seeking class relief after an eighth-place finish in the Preakness.

Life in Shambles just missed in the Sir Barton on the Preakness undercard in his last start.