Turf course may aid Mondego
ELMONT, N.Y. – As the turf courses at Belmont Park have firmed up due to a lack of rain this spring, speed has been a good commodity to have to get to the winner’s circle.
Mondego appears to have the speed that makes him a significant player in Friday’s first-level allowance/optional $62,500 claiming feature for 3-year-olds going 1 1/8 miles on the inner turf course.
Mondego, a son of Lope de Vega, has run three times. He set the pace and got beat by a head on debut at Gulfstream Park in February. He was too far off the pace when fourth in a maiden race at Keeneland. He then won a 1 1/8-mile maiden race here in gate-to-wire fashion on May 7.
Christophe Clement, the trainer of Mondego, doesn’t view the colt as necessarily a front-runner, just one who wants to go a long distance of ground.
“He doesn’t have to be on the lead, but he doesn’t have to be too far back,” Clement said. “He’s a galloper, he should make a lovely mile-and-a-quarter horse at some stage.”
Clement said he does have a concern about how hard the turf course might be on Friday.
“I like him, but I don’t want the ground to be too hard,” Clement said. “He’s got very big knee action, he’s one who hits the ground hard.”
Trainer Graham Motion is looking forward to stretching Regal Kingdom out to 1 1/8 miles on Friday. Regal Kingdom is already a two-time winner, having won a pair of one-mile Louisiana-bred races at Fair Grounds when in the barn of Ron Faucheux.
When Faucheux retired following the Fair Grounds meet, Regal Kindgom was sent to Motion, who ran him in the Woodhaven Stakes going a mile on April 22. Regal Kindgom finished fourth.
“I think distance is going to really help this horse,” Motion said. “He doesn’t really have a strong turn of foot, but he stays.”
C’est Magnifique makes his second attempt at clearing the first-level allowance condition in this spot. He has shown improvement since trainer Chad Brown added blinkers, winning a maiden race at Aqueduct last November and finishing third to stablemate Kalik in this condition going 1 1/16 miles on May 7.
Game Change, a son of Candy Ride, is moving to the turf after going 1 for 6 on dirt for trainer Shug McGaughey. Game Change put in a decent work over the Belmont turf course on May 26.
A change of surface helped Mercante find the winner’s circle, winning a one-mile maiden race by a neck at 10-1 on April 13 at Aqueduct for trainer Bill Mott.
Mott is also sending out Jungfrau, who makes his turf debut following two drubbings in graded stakes on dirt. He is by Arrogate out of the Tapit mare South Bank.
Billieve in Josh, Love Me Not, Clever Thought, and Mayfield Strong complete the field.
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