Thursday TimeformUS Highlight Horse: Stella Rose looks ready to get back on track

Belmont | Race 7 | Post Time 4:41 p.m. (ET) | Go to the FREE TimeformUS PPs

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The entry figures to be tough to beat in this spot. My Girl Corey (#1) really moved forward this winter for Chad Brown, though she steps up to face a tougher group this time. Island Reward (#1A) was dazzling in her last start in New York, and now lands in the stable of capable turf trainer Jason Servis. One of these runners prefers to race up close to the pace and the other will be closing from the back of the pack.

However, there are other quality runners in here that figure to go off at more attractive prices, and I'm inclined to focus on one of them.

STELLA ROSE (#7) returns from a layoff in this spot, and Christophe Clement gets a solid 94 Trainer Rating with runners coming off breaks of this length. Furthermore, her recent form is much stronger than it appears to be, considering that she encountered trouble in her last two starts. Two back at Aqueduct, she was spun out extremely wide coming around the far turn when a horse lost her rider, and she had to swerve around the incident. All things considered, she did well to get beaten by only a couple of lengths on that occasion. Then last time, at Gulfstream, she was off slowly and squeezed back at the start, placing her far off the pace in a race that did not set up well for closers. This filly showed real talent last summer, and I think she can get back to those efforts here.

THE PLAY

Win/Place: 7
Exacta Key Box: 7 with 1,3,5,6
Trifecta: 1,7 with 1,7 with 3,5,6,9