TimeformUS Belmont Horses in Focus for June 2, 2022

RACE 3: BIG EVEREST (#2)
#7 Devil’s Outlaw figures to go favored here off his visually impressive maiden victory. That was his first start in more than a year and first ever start on turf, as he was going out for the Chad Brown barn for the first time. However, his price will suffer from the curse of success, as it seems like every Brown runner has been getting pounded to underlay status over the last week at Belmont. As good as he looked in that return victory, he wasn’t beating the toughest field and there are a couple of runners with experience at this level who seem like significant obstacles. One of those is #6 Kawhi Me a River, who surprisingly has yet to hit the board against winners despite earning strong speed figures. He arguably should have won the Carle Place last fall when he didn’t get the best ride. He again encountered trouble in November when stymied in traffic through the stretch. However, he had no such misfortunes last time, when just a little dull coming off the layoff, failing to capitalize on a favorable pace setup. He has a right to step forward here, but he’s starting to run out of chances. I prefer #3 Big Everest. This talented colt has been a little frustrating, as I’m sure he’s been a project for his connections. He was a visually impressive maiden winner going a mile at Saratoga last summer. However, he’s shown a tendency to get too headstrong in a few of his races, primarily when the paces are slow. That’s why trainer Christophe Clement turned him back to sprints last year, though he found six furlongs to be too short in the Allied Forces. He fared better at this distance last time, but he again got far too rank rating behind a slow pace. He still ran well to just miss getting up for second and will be tough if he’s ready off the layoff. This barn has been sending out a slew of live runners at the meet, and he's reunited with regular pilot Joel Rosario.

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RACE 6: BIZ BIZ BUZZ (#7)
The other division of Thursday’s third race, an N1X allowance at seven furlongs, again features a Brown trainee who figures to get bet down to favoritism. #3 Microphone looked like a promising sort when he won his career debut at Tampa earlier this year. He wasn’t beating much, but he reeled in the front-runner quite easily before drawing off with great style. Yet, he’s been a little disappointing in two starts since then, losing at odds of 6-5 and 3-2. He earned a nice speed figure two back at Gulfstream, but was a little unprofessional, drifting wide off the turn while staying on at one pace. And last time he got a decent trip, but had absolutely nothing to offer through the stretch, fading badly in a race dominated toward the front end. Perhaps turning back will help, but he’s not exactly bred to go shorter as a half-brother to marathoner Serve the King. He can win, but he has all the hallmarks of a runner likely to get overbet with Flavien Prat riding for these connections. I want to go in a different direction. #10 Supply and Demand is a logical alternative, but I liked him last time when he went off at 11-1 finally getting another chance on turf. He ran well but just couldn’t quite get up going six furlongs. He should be suited by the slight stretch-out, but now he’s going to be a fraction of that price and there’s no guarantee he’ll get as favorable a pace setup. This time I’m intrigued by a different new face at the level. #7 Biz Biz Buzz showed promise as a 2-year-old, winning his debut sprinting on turf before finishing a good third behind the talented Slipstream in the Grade 3 Futurity. His results since then have been mixed, but I thought he ran deceptively well in the Pulpit Stakes late last year, as he set a strong pace that fell apart going two turns. He has a right to run faster as a more mature horse now, and he will appreciate the turnback in distance. Mike Trombetta is 7 for 36 (19 percent, $2.42 ROI) off 120- to 240-day layoffs in turf sprints over the past five years and he picks up Irad Ortiz Jr.

RACE 9: SARATOGA SKY (#2)
This is an unusually interesting New York-bred maiden claimer, in which I would not want to settle for the short prices. First-time turfers like #6 Rush to Honor and #12 Chapel Road both have the pedigrees to handle this surface, but Rush to Honor will get bet off dirt form and Chapel Road will be a short price almost by default going out for Clement. The other horse who figures to take money is #4 Loz, but I didn’t see him do anything particularly special getting on turf last time. He did show improvement against a tougher field than this, but just stayed on at one pace late after a decent trip. If I’m going to take any horse out of that April 24 race at Aqueduct, it’s #2 Saratoga Sky. This horse wanted no part of dirt in his debut, so I don’t care about that race. He took a big step forward on turf in that common race with Loz, but got a nightmare trip. He was squeezed between horses coming out of the chute and proceeded to get extremely rank, fighting his rider for the first few furlongs of the race. He had every right to quit after that early trouble but stayed on decently until the last sixteenth. He’s a half-brother to stakes-placed Sanctuary City, so there’s obviously turf potential here. James Ferraro left him in on dirt last time when a race came off the turf. He didn’t run well, but at least he didn’t get rank again with the blinkers coming off. He’s a lot better than his lone turf start indicates, and he’s going to be a fair price with underrated rider Jackie Davis aboard. The other horse that I’d want to use at a similar or bigger price is #8 Sixty Three S. It looks like he didn’t do any serious running in his lone turf start, but that’s a little deceptive. He got a very strange ride that day, as his jockey showed no aggression despite the fact that this horse broke toward the front of the pack. He steadily dropped back and was only asked for run in the last quarter. He was too far back to make a serious impact, but he really picked up the pace late. Trakus caught him coming home those final two furlongs in 22.34 seconds. There’s more turf ability here than meets the eye, and he obviously showed that he could get the distance when running surprisingly well in his last dirt start. I want to use both of these top two picks prominently.