ELMONT, N.Y. – Forte and Tapit Trice, noses apart when second and third, respectively, behind Arcangelo in the Belmont Stakes on June 10, both were on the work tab Friday at Belmont Park as they prepare for the second half of their 3-year-old seasons.

Promiseher America won the Gazelle Stakes on April 9 at Aqueduct and returned to finish last of 14 in the Kentucky Oaks. Gambling Girl came out of her second-place finish in the Gazelle and was second, beaten a neck, in the Oaks.

Probably, the Gazelle was a fairly tough race, which would make its third-place finisher, Shidabhuti, a formidable entrant in the $100,000 Boiling Springs Stakes on Sunday at Monmouth Park.

Hope in Him will return to his preferred surface, Gulfstream Park’s Tapeta track, but must handle a distance perhaps a little out of his comfort zone when going postward the likely favorite in Sunday’s $75,000 Bob Umphrey Sprint. The nine-race program also includes a competitive $60,000 overnight handicap to be decided at 1 1/16 miles on the main track.

Hope in Him has captured his last five starts over Tapeta, the last four since being haltered by trainer Barry Croft in the interests of Kick Start Farm for $12,500 out of the first of those five wins eight months earlier.

The greatest threat to reigning World Champion Quarter Horse Empressum in Sunday’s $150,000 Vessels Maturity at Los Alamitos may come from stablemate Shott Gun.

Empressum was the fastest qualifier for the Vessels Maturity on June 11, winning the second of two 400-yard trials in 19.48 seconds. Shott Gun won the first trial in 19.50.

ELMONT, N.Y. – The multiple graded stakes winner Technical Analysis seems to have found a soft landing spot to make her 5-year-old debut Sunday when she faces four rivals – two from her own barn – in the $150,000 Perfect Sting at Belmont Park.

The Perfect Sting, scheduled for one mile over the Widener Turf course, is carded as race 3 on a nine-race card that begins at 1:05 p.m.

Just a Little Luck will be near the front in Sunday’s $75,000 Mary Claire Schmitt Pleasanton Oaks at six furlongs at the Alameda County Fair. Whether she will set the pace or race as a stalker will be up to the filly.

“She places herself,” trainer Andy Mathis said. “She’s not one you can fight with. If she wants to be forward and wants to be on the front end, you can’t convince her otherwise.”

An illness derailed the 2023 season for Glorious Spring shortly after she beat winners for the first time in an allowance race for California-bred fillies and mares at Santa Anita in March.

Now recovered, Glorious Spring begins a campaign in the second half of the year with her first start against open company winners in a one-mile optional claimer at Los Alamitos on Sunday.

Trained by Dan Blacker for owner and breeder John Harris, Glorious Spring starts from the outside post in a field of six. Despite the gap between starts, Blacker is confident Glorious Song is ready.

Zozos is looking for his third straight win, and second consecutive stakes score, in Sunday’s $275,000 Hanshin Stakes at Ellis Park. The race is the richest of five stakes on the Sunday card, as it is joined by the $225,000 Bashford Manor and $225,000 Debutante, both for 2-year-olds; the $175,000 Maxfield Stakes for 3-year-old sprinters; and the $175,000 Anchorage Stakes for fillies and mares on the turf.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Off a rare subpar showing, the classy Secret Reserve gets some class relief in Sunday’s featured ninth race at Woodbine, a 6 1/2-furlong conditioned allowance with an $80,000 claiming option.

A multiple restricted stakes winner two years ago at 3, Secret Reserve notched his first graded stakes last August in the Grade 3 Bold Venture. Returning from a winter layoff in a 5 1/2-furlong sprint at Sunday’s level on April 29, he pressed a slow pace before fading to third behind gate-to-wire winner Rockcrest.

Undefeated Lucky Force will look to further establish himself when trying three turns for the first time in Sunday’s $50,000 Chris Loseth Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Hastings.

In winning the recent Ross McLeod Stakes, Lucky Force improved his record to 3 for 3 for trainer Craig MacPherson and presented himself as a runner to be reckoned with on the path toward the British Columbia Derby.

“I feel Lucky Force is built like a horse that should get a route,” MacPherson said. “He’s not a heavy horse and covers the ground well.”