Belmont July 15 | Halvey on Horseracing

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3 Morrison
5 Morning Breez
4 What a Catch
Secondary (1)
The Rockville Center is for NY State-bred two year olds at six furlongs on the dirt. Two of the horses, Over Salty and Lake Party, don’t seem to have real outs here, so I’ll eliminate them from consideration. Morrison won his maiden on a sloppy BEL surface, and more importantly he won at today’s distance. There were only four starters in that race, but he was absolutely dominant, winning as easy as he pleased. This should be a much tougher test, but I like what he did last time out and may have things all his own way today.

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Race 6

6 Retrograde
7 Abbot
8 Mollica
Secondary (5, 2, 3, 4, 11)
This 7-Furlong sprint on the turf is a very competitive race with eight of the 12 starters at least having some chance of figuring in the outcome. Stormin Maclean is listed as the morning line favorite, but I think if he goes off at 5/2 he’d be underlayed. There are a bunch of middle odds horses with decent outs. Yummy Bear seems more likely in the money than in the win slot considering his 1 for 17 record. Same sort of issue with Lucky Town, Baseline and Steamboat Bill. I’m looking at the long shot Retrograde in the win slot. He had one start on the turf in 2016, and although it wasn’t much, he showed his improvement in his first two races of this year. Nobody trainer Miguel Vera managed to attract Irad Ortiz for the ride and that has to be seen as a real positive. Given he’s lightly raced and on the improve, he’s worth a look at 15-1 morning line. Abbot seems solid in this event, making only his second start of the year. His turf starts from 2016 were impressive and the very capable Christophe Clement takes the blinkers off today. Mollica showed nice improvement when finally moved to the grass and should be a lot of the speed in this race.

Race 7

Race 8

9 Disco Partner
3 Grand Arch
6 Offering Plan
Secondary (1, 8, 10)
This edition of the Forbidden Apple stakes attracted a nice field of 10 turf runners. Disco Partner looks like the horse to beat but will probably go off at fairly low odds. He’s a Grade 3 winner but if there’s a potential knock he’s only got one race in his last ten at a route distance. He is 5 of 9 on the BEL turf and has beaten some decent turf runners in doing so. The only longshot I’ve got in the mix is Bondurant. He has a tendency to run somewhat evenly but he always seems to be in the mix and he’s 3 of 5 at the distance. I’ll use him if he stays at high odds.

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