SMART MO
Trainer: John Shirreffs
Last race: May 26, 3rd
Finish: 1st by head
Beyer: 94
A first-timer at a mile on dirt, 3-year-old colt scored the upset in a promising debut. Forwardly placed three wide, hooked the favorite at quarter pole, and won photo. Son of Mo Town is a good one.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Neither Red Route One nor Raise Cain did anything in their Monday morning workouts to change their status as middle-of-the-pack to longshot prices for the $1.5 million Belmont Stakes on June 10 at Belmont Park.

Red Route One, fourth in the Preakness Stakes, worked a half-mile in 51.11 seconds over Belmont Park’s main track, according to Daily Racing Form clocker Mike Welsch. Red Route One went his first quarter in 25.38 seconds and galloped out five furlongs in 1:04.53.

ELMONT, N.Y. – There are four turf stakes for 3-year-olds this weekend and Talk of the Nation would be a top contender in any of the them.

Circumstances may lead him to have to run in Saturday’s $100,000 Jersey Derby at Monmouth Park, the least lucrative of the quartet, if he can run anywhere at all.

Talk of the Nation, trained by Shug McGaughey, was scratched from the Grade 2 American Turf at Churchill Downs on May 6 by the Kentucky state veterinarian during the on-track warm-up.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Slow Down Andy, a three-time graded stakes winner who was third in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Keeneland last November in his last start, is nearing his 2023 debut in an equally prestigious race.

Trainer Doug O’Neill said on Monday that Slow Down Andy is on schedule for a start in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Mile Handicap, a $1 million race at Belmont Park on June 10.

Trainer Craig Lewis said he’s unsure where the eight-time stakes winner Brickyard Ride will reappear after his third-place finish in Sunday’s Thor’s Echo Stakes for statebred sprinters at Santa Anita.

Brickyard Ride finished 12 1/4 lengths behind winner The Chosen Vron in the four-runner Thor’s Echo Stakes. He disputed the pace for the first half-mile before tamely fading from contention on the rail.

“It wasn’t his day,” Lewis said.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Ceiling Crusher, the unbeaten winner of two stakes for California-bred 3-year-old fillies by a combined 32 1/2 lengths this year, will remain in the statebred division when the Del Mar summer meeting begins in July.

Ceiling Crusher will be an overwhelming favorite to win her fifth start if she runs as expected in the $175,000 Fleet Treat Stakes for statebred fillies at seven furlongs on July 27.

ELMONT, N.Y. – The New York-bred 8-year-old gelding Battle Station, a three-time stakes winner, suffered multiple injuries to his left hind leg at the end of a workout Sunday morning over Belmont Park’s main track and had to be euthanized, according to trainer Domenick Schettino and his veterinarian.

Approaching the wire, jockey Dylan Davis had to pull up Battle Station abruptly. The horse was placed on an equine ambulance and was later taken to the Ruffian Clinic across the street from Belmont Park. Unfortunately, the injuries were too severe for Battle Station to be saved.

Bad Beat Brian set a course record and Just Might became racing’s newest millionaire in an allowance-level turf sprint last Friday at Churchill Downs.

Bad Beat Brian, a 6-year-old gelding, won by 1 1/4 lengths while completing the 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:01.53. The gelding was second by a head to Caravel in the Grade 2 Shakertown at Keeneland, and then finished sixth in the Grade 2 Twin Spires Turf Sprint on the Kentucky Derby undercard.

Churchill Downs, troubled by a spate of equine fatalities this spring, had horses injured on the track and subsequently euthanized last Friday and Saturday. Tests will be performed on the track this week, and an emergency veterinary panel will be convened at the track by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority.

As it prepares for a big card with six stakes on Saturday – dubbed Stephen Foster Preview Day – Churchill Downs sets the table with Thursday and Friday cards featuring allowance-level events.

Howling Time, who hinted at strong ability against tough competition in the 3-year-old class last year, makes his first start of the year in Thursday’s seventh race, a 6 1/2-furlong allowance-optional claiming race with a purse of $141,000.