O'Brien wheels back Athena in Belmont Oaks

ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Aidan O’Brien will be represented in the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Oaks by Athena, who is running back six days after finishing third in the Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes at The Curragh in Ireland.

“Personally, it doesn’t bother me,” T.J. Comerford, the traveling assistant to O’Brien, said of the quick turnaround. “I’m sure she’s fine.”

Athena, a daughter of Camelot, has one win from eight starts.

Comerford believes “the mile and a quarter is her trip.” In the 1 1/4-mile Pretty Polly, Comerford said, “she finished up really well.”

Athena drew post 6 in a 10-horse field where Toinette, winner of the Edgewood Stakes at Churchill Downs, La Signare, and Significant Form figure to vie for favoritism.

The Oaks field, from the rail out: Significant Form, Chipolata, Paved, Capla Temptress, Toinette, Athena, La Signare, Thewayiam, Fatale Bere, and Mighty Scarlett.

The Oaks will be broadcast live on NBC Sports in a 90-minute telecast beginning at 4:30 p.m. Eastern. That show includes a live telecast of the Dwyer for 3-year-olds and the Belmont Sprint Championship, a Win and You’re In race for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.