North Slope sticking with dirt

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – North Slope earned a career-best 100 Beyer Speed Figure for his victory in Sunday’s $100,000 Evening Attire Stakes and will remain on the dirt for the foreseeable future, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said. He will be kept under consideration for the $100,000 Stymie Stakes at Aqueduct on March 22.

North Slope had recorded his four previous victories on turf, including the Bowl Game Stakes last October at Belmont. In four dirt starts, he had finished second twice, including a runner-up finish in the off-the-turf Hall of Fame Stakes in 2013, run in the slop at Saratoga. The inner track was muddy for Sunday’s Evening Attire, and North Slope rallied inside of the pacesetting Village Warrior and drew away to win by 2 1/2 lengths.

“We’re happy that he won. We’ll keep him on the dirt,” said McLaughlin, who won his fourth Evening Attire.

After North Slope finished ninth in the W.L. McKnight Handicap on turf at Gulfstream Park on Dec. 27, McLaughlin shipped him back to New York. McLaughlin noted that North Slope is a nervous horse, and his stall at Belmont is nearly as big as two stalls.

“He’s a stall-walker,” McLaughlin said by phone from Florida. “He has a regular stall and part of the shed row. It’s the space of two stalls and helps a horse that is claustrophobic.”