Mo Diddley adds distance in Wednesday feature

Mo Diddley tried New York-bred company for the first time on June 3 - and he liked it. But how will he feel about a longer distance and tougher competition in the featured eighth race Wednesday at Belmont?

Mo Diddley is one of seven entered in a 1 1/16-mile statebred-restricted second-level allowance race also open to $40,000 claimers. Macagone and Cloontia were entered under the claiming option, and Macagone particularly stands a solid chance.

As for Mo Diddley, a 3-year-old facing elders but getting a five-pound weight-for-age break, his first four starts came in open competition at Churchill and Saratoga. Trainer Mark Casse put him in a New York-bred first-level allowance last month and Mo Diddley won by the better part of two lengths. But that race came at seven furlongs, and Mo Diddley has no proven form at Wednesday’s distance.

Macagone, a 7-year-old with a bankroll of more than a half-million dollars, drops to his lowest class level in years seeking his first win in 14 months.

If Tribecca is just in this for dirt and is scratched if the race stays on turf, Cloontia could wind up as the lone speed.

As interesting as anyone is Gucci Factor, who appeared to struggle in a sloppy-track comeback race May 19 and won well in a New York-bred first-level allowance last December in just the second turf try of his career.

*** Lull, who was third in the Grade 1 Just A Game on the June 9 Belmont Stakes undercard, and La Sardane, who won the Grade 3 Intercontinental Stakes two days earlier, head the list of expected entrants for the $150,000 Perfect Sting on Saturday. Other expected entrants are Heavenly Score, Lido, Pas de Soucis, and Thais.