Servis has top two players in feature race

ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Jason Servis will be expected to win Thursday’s $85,000 second-level allowance/optional $62,500 feature at Belmont Park. The more challenging part for handicappers is determining which of his two entrants in the five-horse field will get the job done.

Servis has the uncoupled entry of Chateau and Happy Farm entered in the 6 1/2-furlong race for 3-year-olds and up. Chateau, who is 4 for 6 since Servis claimed him for $40,000 last September, is in for the allowance condition. Happy Farm, who is 2 for 3 since Servis claimed him for $30,000 in March, is in for the tag.

Both horses have ample speed, so jockeys Jose Lezcano, on Chateau, and Irad Ortiz Jr., on Happy Farm, will have to avoid a duel. Chateau has proven to be very good over wet surfaces, a factor that could be in play on Thursday, the beginning of a five-day race week that culminates with a Columbus Day card next Monday.

Chateau has not run since winning a first-level allowance at Saratoga by a neck over Puttheglassdown. He was part of a torrid early pace, opened up a six-length lead in midstretch, and just held on. That race has proven to be quite productive as four of the six horses he beat that day have come back to win, including Frosted Grace, who won a first-level allowance at Gulfstream with an 88 Beyer Speed Figure, and Fortune’s Fool, who won next out at Belmont with an 86 Beyer.

Chateau will have to prove that he can get 6 1/2 furlongs as his four wins have come at six furlongs or shorter.

Happy Farm won a $40,000 claiming race going 6 1/2 furlongs here on Sept. 7, his third win from five starts at Belmont and second at the distance. Two starts back, he won from off the pace, taking a starter allowance by 2 1/4 lengths. Happy Farm has proven quite popular at the claim box, having been taken five times since August 2018 for a total of $144,000.

Fuel the Burn, trained by Danny Gargan, has finished second in his last two tries at this condition. He has three wins and two seconds in his last seven dirt starts after making 12 of his previous 13 starts on turf.

“His dirt form really turned him around,” Gargan said. “He got sick at Churchill Downs, which was the only time he didn’t run good all year.”

Gargan was referring to an allowance race at Churchill on May 3 where Fuel the Burn finished fifth.

Achilles Warrior gets some class relief after running in stakes the last two times out. He finished last in the Allied Forces on turf on Sept. 8 and was beaten 19 1/2 lengths by Shancelot in the Grade 2 Amsterdam at Saratoga on July 28.

Seethisquick, third to Happy Farm in his first start off a layoff on Sept. 7, completes the field.