Pace will be key factor in Brooklyn Invitational on Belmont undercard

It’s one of those paradoxes in racing: The longer the distance, the better speed carries.

At least that’s what trainer Mike Stidham is hoping when Ground Transport stretches out Saturday to 1 1/2 miles in the Grade 2, $500,000 Brooklyn Invitational. The 4-year-old son of Big Brown shipped here from Chicago to win an ungraded 1 1/4-mile stakes in gate-to-wire fashion five weeks ago.

“Basically, we figured with this horse, when he’s able to control things, he’ll go as long as they write races,” Stidham said. “He’s doing good and just won on that racetrack, so we’re coming in pretty optimistic. My main concern is whether Cat Burglar will push us, but obviously that wouldn’t be any good for them either.”[bc_video_id:326583:]

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Ground Transport and Cat Burglar figure to vie for favoritism in a field of eight older horses in the 126th Brooklyn. Clearly, a ruinous pace scenario might well set the table for one of the others, with Micromanage, Ever Rider, and Norumbega among them.

The most notable longshot is Golden Soul, the 2013 Kentucky Derby runner-up still looking for his second career win. The colt recently was scratched from a first-level turf allowance at Churchill Downs because of a minor bout with colic, said trainer Dallas Stewart.

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The Brooklyn has undergone a number of changes since it was first run in 1887 at old Gravesend. In recent years, it had been run the day before the Belmont, but like several other races, it has been assimilated into a blockbuster Belmont Day program.

Post time for the Brooklyn, the third of 13 Saturday races, is 12:40 p.m. Eastern.