Likeable might get shot at turf in Sunday allowance

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – A $47,000 allowance race carded at a mile on the turf for 3-year-olds will serve as Sunday’s main event. A field of 10 was entered, among them the Todd Pletcher-trained Likeable, who will try grass for the first time if the race goes as scheduled. Forecasters on Thursday were calling for a 70 percent chance of rain here on Sunday.

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Likeable earned himself a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile with an 8 1/4-length allowance win at Belmont Park on Sept. 19 that resulted in a Beyer Speed Figure of 81. But he got involved in an early speed duel in the Juvenile, and shortened stride to finish far behind the winner, current Derby favorite Essential Quality. A son of Frosted and a half-brother to one turf winner, Likeable has made just one start at 3, finishing a tiring fourth going seven furlongs in the Grade 3 Swale here.

Yes This Time could prove the horse to beat if the headliner stays on turf, having won his last two starts and three of his last four over the local course while seeing his Beyer Speed Figures improve with each outing. Trained by Kelly Breen, Yes This Time figures to be part of what could be a contentious early pace.

An honest pace could enhance the chances of the stakes-placed Fighting Force, who drops in with allowance company for the first time after a steady diet of stakes outings. He is coming off a troubled seventh-place effort, beaten just four lengths, in the Cutler Bay on March 27.