Onus has Diana as goal

ELMONT, N.Y. – Onus, who set a turf-course record in winning an allowance race last Saturday at Belmont Park, is unlikely to run back in the Grade 1 Just a Game on June 11, according to trainer Shug McGaughey.

McGaughey is targeting the Grade 1 Diana on July 23 with Onus, and he may look at the $100,000 Perfect Sting on July 2 as a prep. McGaughey is pointing Tapitry, second in the Beaugay, to the Just a Game.

Onus came off a six-month layoff to win a high-class allowance race by 5 1/2 lengths on Saturday. She ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:38.86. Earlier in the meet, Southern Gem had lowered the mark to 1:39.02.

“She’s pretty talented, but racetracks make track records; we all know that,” McGaughey said. “She set one down at Laurel, too.”

Indeed, Onus owns the 1 1/16-mile course record (1:39.26) at Laurel as well. That came in an allowance race last August. She then won the Grade 3 Commonwealth Oaks at Laurel by 4 1/2 lengths before finishing ninth of 14 as the favorite in the Mrs. Revere at Churchill in November.

“I shouldn’t have run her at Louisville, and I knew it,” McGaughey said. “The turf was real soft, and she was a bit beat up.”

McGaughey said Onus wintered at Niall Brennan’s farm in Ocala, Fla., and only rejoined his Fair Hill operation in mid-April.

On Sunday, McGaughey sent out a good-looking debut winner in the 3-year-old Promote, a son of Blame who rallied from 10 lengths back to win by 2 1/4 lengths. He ran six furlongs on dirt under Jose Lezcano in 1:09.62 and earned a 72 Beyer Speed Figure.

“Everybody kept telling me how good he was, I just never saw it myself,” McGaughey said.

McGaughey said he wasn’t expecting the horse to be able to win going six furlongs.

“When the race came up, I thought, ‘Well, there’d probably be some steam in there,’ ” McGaughey said. “I told Jose he’s not going to be fast, but he’s going to be coming.”

McGaughey said the Grade 2, $500,000 Dwyer on July 9 is a target for Promote, with a possible prep before then.