Our Khrysty looks to run back to her last in Turnback the Alarm

ELMONT, N.Y. – When Ramon Dominguez looked at the past performances of Our Khrysty prior to riding her in an overnight stakes at Belmont last month, he was expecting her to run well. That she would win by 4 1/2 lengths without feeling the leather of Dominguez’s whip surpassed the jockey’s expectations.

“She was always consistent, but I wasn’t expecting her to run quite that good,” Dominguez said. “On the bridle, waiting for me ask her, when it opened up she exploded. She was very impressive.”

A repeat of that performance could make Our Khrysty very tough in Saturday’s Grade 3, $100,000 Turnback the Alarm Handicap at Belmont Park. The Turnback the Alarm is run at the same 1 1/16-mile distance of the Nellie Bly, the race Our Khrysty won last month.

A field of nine was entered for the Turnback the Alarm, but Awesome Maria was entered in a turf stakes on Friday and was expected to run there, trainer Todd Pletcher said Thursday.

Our Khrysty, a daughter of Newfoundland trained by Todd Beattie, had done most of her running in sprint races. In the Nellie Bly, she raced an up-close fourth and was seemingly trapped on the inside while Banker’s Buy made a four-wide sweep to the lead. At the eighth pole, Dominguez got Our Khyrsty off the rail and she exploded past Banker’s Buy to win in hand. Banker’s Buy, never worse than second in six starts at Belmont, also is back in here.

“I could have pushed my way out [earlier], but I really felt like she was so on the bridle it didn’t matter and I didn’t want to move and commit myself too early,” Dominguez said. “She could have done anything that day, she was much the best.”

Our Khyrsty will break from the outside post.

Funny Moon, who is 4 for 6 at Belmont including three graded stakes victories, is the one to beat on paper. She is coming off a fifth-place finish in the Grade 1 Spinster run over Keeneland’s synthetic surface, her first start off a three-month layoff.

“She ran a notch below form, maybe it was the Polytrack, maybe it was the layoff,” trainer Christophe Clement said. “She came back from that race, trained very forward, looks good, very fit. If she runs back to her best form, she should be very competitive.”

Funny Moon, the highweight at 120 pounds, will break from the rail under Alan Garcia.

Miss Match, Manitoba Miss, Way With Words, My Dinah, and Nicksappealinglady complete the field.