Tu Brutus too good to keep in barn

The Chilean import Tu Brutus ran an exceptional race in his North American debut, finishing second by a half-length to Send It In in the 1 1/4-mile Excelsior on April 8. He earned a 118 Beyer Speed Figure, the third-best in all of racing this year and only a single point behind Send It In’s figure and the number Arrogate earned in his Pegasus World Cup tour de force.

Following the race, trainer Gary Contessa planned to train Tu Brutus up to the Grade 2 Brooklyn Invitational, a 1 1/2-mile race on the June 10 Belmont Stakes undercard. But Tu Brutus had other ideas and instead will be a short-priced favorite Sunday at Belmont in the $100,000 Flat Out Stakes going 1 3/8 miles.

“The last two weeks, we can barely keep him on the ground,” Contessa said. “He’s been kicking and playing around coming off the track, so I thought it was better to run him here. We’re hoping for an easy race, but you never know.”

Tu Brutus is owned by Winning Move Stable and partners. He arrived at Contessa’s Florida barn in January. At the time, Contessa had other plans for him.

“The Excelsior was actually our third choice,” Contessa said. “I had a race for him at Gulfstream that didn’t go, and then I sent him north and put him on a van to Laurel for a stakes, and we got snowed out. After that, we lost a bunch of training time with him because of weather. I really think I only had him about 80 percent fit for the race.”

Tu Brutus raced on a clear lead in the Excelsior and was caught in deep stretch. Contessa doesn’t believe Sunday’s added distance or the 1 1/2 miles of the Brooklyn will be a problem for him. He also thinks he has other options.

“He’s the type of horse where if you work him five-eighths, he wants to run off for another five-eighths,” Contessa said. “He’ll run all day, but I also think we can shorten him up to 1 1/8 miles. He’s very push-button.”

Contessa will run a second Chilean-bred in the Flat Out, the long-winded Turco Bravo. But the strongest challenge to Tu Brutus is likely to come from Scuba, who concluded last season by winning three marathon stakes on dirt for trainer Brendan Walsh.

Scuba did not run well while making his 2017 debut in the 1 1/8-mile Ben Ali at Keeneland but should get back on track at this longer distance. Scuba may not have the early speed of Tu Brutus, but he does like to go to the lead. This could set up an interesting riders’ race between Kendrick Carmouche on Scuba and Irad Ortiz Jr. on Tu Brutus.