ELMONT, N.Y. – The imposing presence of reigning sprint champion Jackie’s Warrior in the Grade 2 True North and perhaps equally daunting quartet of filly and mare grass specialists that trainer Chad Brown has amassed a race later for the Grade 1 New York Stakes are just two of the highlights on Friday’s outstanding 11-race program at Belmont Park that also features the Grade 2 Belmont Gold Cup to be decided at two miles on the turf.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Eric Reed walked through the Belmont Park paddock on Monday, shortly after his Kentucky Derby-winning colt, Rich Strike, had a routine gallop of one lap around the track, at the same 1 1/2-mile distance he’ll run in the Belmont Stakes on Saturday. He looked at the surroundings in awe.

“It’s like heaven,” he said.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Santa Anita has scheduled 26 stakes for its autumn meeting, which runs from Sept. 30 to Nov. 6, with the first two weekends dominated by preps for Breeders’ Cup races. There are purse increases for six stakes.

The track has made minor revisions to the schedule from 2021. This year, the autumn schedule includes the $100,000 Tokyo City Cup at 1 1/2 miles on dirt, a race run in past years in early spring.

The schedule includes five Grade 1 or Grade 2 races that offer fees-paid berths to Breeders’ Cup races at Keeneland on Nov. 4-5.

ARCADIA, Calif. – It still surprises owner and breeder Nick Alexander that his 4-year-old filly Becca Taylor is not unbeaten after nine starts.

Running in her first graded stakes, Becca Taylor won Saturday’s Grade 3 Desert Stormer Stakes for fillies and mares at six furlongs at Santa Anita, her first start here since a nose loss in the Irish O’Brien Stakes on the hillside turf course in March.

“I’d like to see the photo,” Alexander said with a smile.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Ethereal Road, winner of the Sir Barton Stakes at Pimlico on the Preakness undercard May 21, will not compete in the Belmont Stakes on Saturday after developing a quarter crack in his right front hoof, trainer D. Wayne Lukas said Monday.

Ethereal Road has been training at Churchill Downs since traveling to Pimlico.

At Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., Howling Time was withdrawn from Belmont consideration by trainer Dale Romans early Monday, two days after the Not This Time colt breezed a half-mile in 48.80 seconds.

Romans said he “talked over our options” with Jason Loutsch, racing manager for the Albaugh Family Stables, before settling on the Grade 3 Matt Winn at Churchill the day after the Belmont.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – If Donnie K. Von Hemel had been assured an allowance this week at Churchill Downs would be available to She’s All Wolfe, there’s no chance the Oklahoma-bred mare would have pulled her 20-1 upset Saturday in the Shawnee.

“We would have gone in the allowance,” said Von Hemel.

ARCADIA, Calif. - War At Sea has undergone a rapid transformation since trainer Ron Ellis moved the 3-year-old colt to two-turn races on turf in February.

War At Sea lost his first four starts, then was a game third in a one-mile turf race for maidens in February. He has not lost since, in a span of three races that includes an attractive win in Saturday’s $100,000 Cinema Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on turf at Santa Anita.

“He’s definitely on an up elevator,” Ellis said Sunday. “I’ve always thought he wanted to go farther.”

ARCADIA, Calif. - Fast workouts have been a regular occurrence in recent weeks for the undefeated colt Flightline, who zoomed through a half-mile in 46.80 seconds at Santa Anita on Sunday.

The time was the quickest of 78 works at the distance.

“He wasn’t asked to do much, just a little blowout,” trainer John Sadler said.

Belmont Park
Weather: Sunny
Track: Fast
Temperature: 64 degrees

ELMONT, N.Y. – There are seven likely Belmont Stakes starters currently stabled on the grounds at Belmont Park. Four of them turned in their final works for the final leg of the 2022 Triple Crown on Saturday morning, including WE THE PEOPLE, whose “buzz horse” status likely gained additional supporters after a sharp half-mile drill with his trainer, Rodolphe Brisset, aboard.