Litfin: Two pedigrees to watch Friday at Belmont

ADUSTED TRACK CONDITIONS POSSIBLE

Still on the turf as of 9:30 a.m., but rain is expected, and everything is subject to change by first post, which isn’t until almost four hours later.

Of four races scheduled for the grass, the only distance change in the event of a surface switch would involve race 2, a $75,000 maiden special for fillies and mares that would shorten up from 1 1/4 miles to 1 1/8 miles.

NOTEWORTHY BLOODLINES

In race 2, there are some noteworthy pedigrees:

• Cat’s Claw, who improved through three races last fall for Jonathan Sheppard, comes off a rallying fifth on Polytrack in her 2014 debut. She’s bred to get the trip, as her dam, Chili Cat, is a half-sister to the Phipps Stable bluebloods Point of Entry and Pine Island.

Sward, an Indian Charlie filly making her third start for Bill Mott, is out of Greenery, and thus is a half-sister to Lea, a graded stakes winner on turf and dirt, capped by a 114 Beyer Speed Figure in winning the Donn Handicap for these connections this year.

Race 4 is a maiden special for New York-breds at six furlongs in which none of the six experienced runners have approached the Beyer par of 73, including my top pick, Dusk to Dawn, who is eligible to shake loose with blinkers on following a pace duel in his recent debut for Mike Hushion – who is 7 for 17 with second-out maidens in 2013-14.

Among the first-time starters is Giantinthemoonlite, an Al Fried Jr. homebred from Bruce Brown, whose barn has been very live lately.

Giantinthemoonlite’s dam, Moonlightandbeauty, has produced several quality runners, most notably Giant Moon, a six-time stakes winner who earned more than $500,000, and Moonlight Song, who has banked more than $300,000. Regarding the latter, it might prove noteworthy that he has won five of six starts on wet tracks, including victories over all four NYRA dirt surfaces.

BROWN HAS TRIO IN FEATURE

The featured eighth race is an $85,000 optional claimer scheduled for six furlongs on the inner turf, but Bruce Brown is prepared for whatever Mother Nature has in store, as he has three of the eight entrants – Kingsford Drive for dirt only and the duo of Spring to the Sky and Strong Impact for turf.

Kingsford Drive upped his record to 3-2-0 from five starts at Big Sandy with a front-end romp May 3, earning a 94 Beyer that was his best since a 100 for a win in the mud here last fall.

Strong Impact won off a layoff on a Widener course rated “good” last June before posting an 11-1 score in the Fiddlers Patriot Stakes at Saratoga.

Spring to the Sky was beaten less than five lengths in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. He has since had some excuses on turf, and his latest on Polytrack in the Commonwealth Stakes looks like a toss-out.

If the race stays on turf, it would mark the 7-year-old debut of Hear the Footsteps, a hard-knocking New York-bred who swept his three starts at Belmont’s 2013 spring-summer meet for Linda Rice.