Ticking Katie will stretch out in North American debut
ELMONT, N.Y. – Entering the eighth week of the 12-week Belmont spring-summer meeting, not one turf race has had to be transferred to the main track.
That streak could be in jeopardy Wednesday with five turf races scheduled following some rain in the early hours Monday and more forecast Tuesday. However, dry conditions were expected for Wednesday’s program.
Wednesday’s $85,000 third-level allowance feature has five horses scheduled to run on the turf and four entered for the main track. Owners Jim and Susan Hill have contenders on either surface, with the European import Ticking Katie, trained by Brian Lynch, on turf, and Lunar Surge, trained by George Weaver, entered for the dirt.
Ticking Katie is an Irish-bred daughter of Baltic King who went 3 for 15 in Europe, with all three of her victories coming against males. On Sunday, Ticking Katie blew out three furlongs in 36.84 seconds over Belmont’s inner turf course.
“She’s twice the size the filly as when she came over, so I love to see that,” Lynch said. “This was my first opportunity to see her on the grass, and she looked great getting over it. I don’t think she’s run farther than a mile, but you figure if they can get a mile over there, they can get a mile and a sixteenth over here. I feel good about her going into it.”
Ticking Katie will take on a pair of Chad Brown-trained fillies, Hellenistic and Water Hole, both formerly based in Europe. Both seek to rebound from disappointing stakes tries.
If the race is transferred to dirt, Lunar Surge would become the horse to beat. She drops into allowance company after a couple of graded stakes tries.
KEY CONTENDERS
Ticking Katie
◗ She shows eight workouts including a decent three-furlong blowout over the Belmont turf for her first start in nine months.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: Over last three years, Lynch is 6 for 29 with a $1.87 return on investment with turf horses returning from layoffs of more than 180 days.
◗ She will be trying 1 1/16 miles for the first time.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 1A Ticking Katie. Trainer Brian Lynch is 84-20-12-12 with a $2.33 ROI over the past five years in the first start following a trainer switch. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
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Hellenistic (Last 3 Beyers: 82-86-71)
◗ She sandwiched a second-level optional-claiming win between two disappointing tries in graded stakes. Last out, she had post 14 and raced extremely wide when 10th, beaten 4 1/2 lengths, in the Grade 3 Bewitch Stakes at 1 1/2 miles.
“She showed a big turn of foot in a mile-and-three-sixteenths race at Gulfstream, so I feel she’ll be able to handle the cutback,” Brown said. “Do I wish it was a little bit longer? Yeah, but I don’t know that she’s necessarily a mile-and-a-half filly, either.”
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 3 Hellenistic. Trainer/jockey combo of Chad Brown and Javier Castellano are 11-2-3-1 with a $0.61 ROI in turf routes at the current Belmont meet. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
Waterhole (Beyer: 69)
◗ She broke poorly, was rank, and didn’t show much in the Grade 2 Distaff Turf Mile, her North American debut and first start in six months.
“We’ll just draw a line through the race,” Brown said. “I know she trained far better than that going into that race, and she’s been training quite well recently again, so we’re looking for a fresh start from her.”
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 7 Water Hole. Trainer/jockey combo of Chad Brown and Irad Ortiz Jr. are 22-7-4-2 with a $3.09 ROI in turf routes at the current Belmont meet. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan