Ready for Rye cruises to victory in Allied Forces after surface switch

He looked tough to beat on turf, but Ready for Rye looked even better when the $100,000 Allied Forces Stakes at Belmont Park was transferred to the dirt Sunday due to inclement weather.

Unbeaten on turf but a Grade 2 stakes winner on dirt, Ready for Rye lived up to his 1-2 favoritism by rolling to a 4 3/4-length victory in the Allied Forces at soggy Belmont Park. All five races scheduled for the turf Sunday at Belmont were moved to the main track due to the rain that fell Saturday.

Big Family, a 13-1 longshot, finished second, seven lengths ahead of First Down. Conquest Tsunami and Disco Partner completed the order of finish. Four entrants scratched, presumably due to the surface change.

Though Ready for Rye won the Grade 2 Swale on dirt at Gulfstream in March, his connections moved him to the turf in July, and he went 2 for 2 over that surface, including a victory in the Quick Call Stakes at Saratoga. That had trainer Tom Albertrani and owner Rick Westermen’s Chalk Racing thinking about the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint next month at Keeneland.

This raced seemed like a good spot to get a final prep race in for the Breeders’ Cup, and it still may prove to be.

“There’s not much time between now and then,” Albertrani said. “We’re going to talk about it a little bit more.”

If he goes to the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, Ready for Rye will do so in excellent form and full of confidence. On Sunday, under Javier Castellano, Ready for Rye dueled outside of Conquest Tsunami through a quarter run in 22.62 seconds after bobbling at the start.

Coming to the quarter pole, Ready for Rye put away Conquest Tsunami and was hand-ridden by Castellano to the wire. Ready for Rye, a son of City Zip, covered the six furlongs over a muddy main track in 1:10.87 and returned $3 as the favorite.

“Like Javier said, it was a nice workout,” Albertrani said. “Now we can run him next week.”

There is the $300,000 Gallant Bob Stakes at six furlongs on dirt at Parx next Saturday, but Albertrani said he wouldn’t do that.