Thursday TimeformUS Highlight Horse: Scat Tu Tap should appreciate added ground
Belmont at the Big A | Race 7 | Post Time 4:11 p.m. (ET)
Chad Brown sends out the two likely favorites in this first-level allowance going the marathon distance of 1 3/8 miles on turf. Between his uncoupled pair entered for turf, I slightly prefer Going Concern (#1), who still has upside in just the third start of his career. This gelded son of Kingman delivered at a short price on debut at Tampa over the winter. While he disappointed when stepping up against winners last time, he didn’t have an ideal start and couldn’t make up ground in a race dominated up front. Now he adds blinkers, potentially looking to get a little more engaged early in the race. There’s still upside with this lightly raced 4-year-old, but he will need to improve.
The same can be said of Catch a Wave (#6), who has improved with each start. He also won his debut at Tampa before facing tougher company in Kentucky and New York. He’s been a little one-paced in those two most recent efforts, hitting his best stride too late at Keeneland before never launching a rally last time going this distance. He takes blinkers off as Flavien Prat gets back aboard, and just needs to find a more potent late kick.
I want to take a shot against this pair of favorites, neither of which stands on particularly solid ground, with a horse who figures to be a generous price. Scat Tu Tap (#4) may look slightly overmatched at first glance, and some handicappers are sure to be turned off by the fact that it took him 15 starts to break his maiden. However, he had some trips over the winter at Gulfstream, getting bumped out to the center of the course at the quarter pole on Feb. 15 before working out an extremely wide trip on Mar. 20. He finally got his diploma in April, settling off the pace with blinkers removed before making a late rush to get up. He then stepped up against winners last time, and likely would have won his second race in a row if he hadn’t been ridden directly into traffic at the quarter pole, losing all his momentum. The stretch-out is a question mark, but this son of marathoner Tu Brutus has the stride length and cadence to suggest more ground may suit him. He also gets a significant jockey upgrade to Dylan Davis.