Sunday TimeformUS Highlight Horse: The Jeweler should benefit from debut experience

Belmont at the Big A | Race 6 | Post Time 3:44 p.m. (ET)

Sweet Little Lila (#8) is the filly to beat after running well in all three of her prior races. She caught a very tough maiden field on debut at Saratoga, and has subsequently hit the board in her two most recent starts. She arguably didn't get the best trip two back when she had to wait in traffic before angling out in upper stretch. Then last time her connections took a shot against winners in the Selima and she ran well for third despite proving no match for impressive winner Ultimate Love, who may be a player in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.

There are a few intriguing first-time starters with pedigree in this lineup. Chad Brown sends out Consensus View (#7) for Klaravich Stables, who purchased this filly for $376K overseas at Tattersalls. It's no surprise that she has plenty of turf pedigree, being by Frankel out of a dam who is a half-sister to Group 1-placed turf horse Ebaiyra. Her workouts on dirt aren't flashy, but that often doesn't matter for the Chad Brown barn. Both Mike Repole-owned Todd Pletcher-trained first-time starters were also purchased overseas with plenty of pedigree. Osmosis (#3) is a half-sister to turf stakes winner Gidu, and Resort (#11) is out of a dam who is a half-sister to multiple Group 1 turf winner Shamardal.

My top pick is second-time starter The Jeweler (#10), who raced like a filly who really needed her debut experience last month. She broke a step slowly, and didn't have much early speed from the rail. She got a pretty good trip saving ground, but just never appeared to get into a comfortable rhythm. She had to tap on the brakes a couple of times on the far turn, and then encountered traffic in midstretch while rallying between horses. The race was coming apart at the end, but I still thought she showed some encouraging late interest. This filly didn't get much of a speed figure for that performance, but I expect she can do better in her second start