ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer Bill Mott had been thinking more about the $500,000 Ohio Derby on June 27 than next Saturday’s $1 million Belmont Stakes for Modernist before he watched him work on Sunday morning at Belmont Park.

Modernist, winner of the Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes in February, worked five furlongs in 59.28 seconds over the Belmont main track, going in company with Tacitus, the 2019 Belmont Stakes runner-up. The pair hooked up with Sonneman, a 3-year-old trained by Steve Asmussen, who ultimately took back off the duo. Sonneman is pointing to the Easy Goer Stakes on June 25.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer Steve Asmussen has juggled his lineup for the Belmont Stakes, electing to run Pneumatic and the longshot Jungle Runner while pointing the Grade 1 winner Basin to the Blue Grass Stakes on July 11 at Keeneland.

“We decided to give Basin more time and I think it’s very important to keep him at two turns with our eyes still on the [Kentucky] Derby,” Asmussen said Sunday from Kentucky. “He finally ran the second turn well in the Arkansas Derby and we want to continue that trend.”

ELMONT, N.Y. – There would be no lightning-fast workout this time.

Tiz the Law, the presumptive favorite for Saturday’s $1 million Belmont Stakes, completed his serious preparations for the race by working a controlled half-mile in 50.42 seconds early Sunday morning at Belmont Park. With jockey Manny Franco up, Tiz the Law went his opening quarter in 26.47 and his final quarter in 23.95. He galloped out five furlongs in 1:03.35 and six furlongs in 1:16.86.

ELMONT, N.Y. - If Max Player improves as much in the afternoon as he has in the morning, he just might have a chance to pull an upset in next Saturday’s $1 million Belmont Stakes.

For the second time in 10 days, Max Player put in a terrific workout over the Belmont Park main track, this time going six furlongs in 1:12.25 Saturday morning under exercise rider Oscar Gomez.

Max Player was one of three Belmont contenders to work on a splendid late spring morning in New York. Trainer Todd Pletcher’s pair of Dr Post and Farmington Road went a half-mile together in 48.87 seconds.

For several weeks this spring, Indiana Grand Racecourse and Casino had to turn horsemen away from a nearly empty stabling area because of COVID-19 restrictions. Later, they had to turn them away because there was no room at the inn.

There were 135 horses entered on the 11-race Monday card at Indiana Grand, the first of 94 this season, and officials at the Indianapolis-area venue don’t expect that number to be entirely aberrant.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Pure Sensation won the Jaipur Stakes in 2016 when it was a Grade 3 stakes. Next Saturday, the now 9-year-old Pure Sensation will attempt to win the Jaipur in its second year as a Grade 1.

On Friday, Pure Sensation worked a half-mile over the inner turf course in 49.37 seconds, striding out nicely while working by himself.

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ELMONT, N.Y. – It’s been 17 years, but the 2003 Acorn Stakes where Lady Tak got beat a head by Bird Town still irks trainer Steve Asmussen.

“You mean she should have won?” Asmussen said.

:: Belmont Stakes news, contenders, and more

Perhaps Casual, Lady Tak’s seventh foal, can give Asmussen his first Grade 1 Acorn victory when she runs in the one-mile race for 3-year-old fillies Saturday at Belmont.

ELMONT, N.Y. – While trainer Steve Asmussen was to finalize his plans for the Belmont Stakes over the weekend, he is pretty set on whom he is going to run in the Grade 1 Woody Stephens, a seven-furlong race for 3-year-olds on the same card next Saturday.

After failing to excel around two turns, Shoplifted will cut back to seven furlongs and one turn in the $250,000 Woody Stephens. Asmussen also will run Echo Town, a recent allowance winner at Churchill Downs.

Gulfstream Park on Thursday will reopen its casino, shuttered for the past three months due to the coronavirus pandemic. The newly redesigned casino floor will be open 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and from 10 a.m. to 1 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays, with strict safety protocols to be observed.

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HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Todd Pletcher closed down his winter headquarters at the Palm Beach Downs training center earlier this week. But the future Hall of Fame horseman will still have a major presence during the remainder of the spring-summer session after transferring a large contingent down the turnpike to stable at Gulfstream Park with longtime assistant Anthony Sciametta over the next several months, including Roman Empire, among the key contenders in Sunday’s co-featured sixth race.