Today’s 9th at Belmont is the Belmont Oaks Invitational. Up until last year it was known as the Garden City and run in September.

If you read my previous bogs on turf racing, you’ll know that the Europeans are vastly superior overall. The have stronger turf sires, more competitive races and are used to running longer distances in firm or soft conditions. Their training and racing schedules don’t suffer because of the vagaries of weather.

You’ll also remember that the big reasons the Europeans come to America to race are softer competition, availability of Lasix, AND THE LIGHTER WEIGHTS CARRIED IN AMERICAN STAKES.

This race is no different. One of the up and coming American runners, My Conquestadory was scratched this morning, making it a ten horse field. There are four European entrants: Goldy Espony, Flying Jib, Xcellence, and Wonderfully. Minorette started her career in Europe but has raced this year in America.

Of the four Europeans the standout is Xcellence. Xcellence is by Canadian Horse of the Year Champs Elysees out of the French mare Xanadu Bliss. Excellence is bred for distance on both sides of her pedigree. She will have no issue with the mile and a quarter distance. Xcellence has a Group 3 win, and two in-the-money finishes in Group 1 races. Clearly she has the French betting public befuddled because despite finishing in the top three in her last five races she has regularly been at double digit odds. Jockey Gérald Mossé is well known in international circles and comes over to accept the mount on Xcellence. In her last, the Prix de Diane Longines, she ran a very game race, taking the lead in the stretch and losing the place by only a head in the very fast time of 2:05.37 for the 1 5/16 miles. She easily tops the field in terms of figures, gets a 5-pound weight break from her European races, has one workout over the track, and has a perfect middle post. She’ll be the favorite, but if you get 5-2 I think that is fair odds.

Of the other Europeans, Goldy Espony gets the Chad Brown angle. Brown’s horses won this race the past two years when it was the Garden City. In 2013 Alterlite shipped over from Europe to win, and Goldy Espony tries to do the same thing. Goldy Espony has two good positives – she’s been the mile and a quarter multiple times and she is a Group 3 winner. She also get first Lasix. On the negative side, her first try with Group 1 horses was very disappointing. At 10-1 she may be worth a few dollars to win and in the exotics.

Flying Jib is by Oasis Dream, a sire by Green Desert. Green Desert is well known as a superior sire of turf sprinters, and Flying Jib looks like he may be a good one. I think the mile and a quarter might be too long, but she should have a lot to say about the pace.

Wonderfully’s sire Galileo was one of the great racehorses of the early 21st century. Wonderfully has been racing against top competition in Europe, but at distances less than a mile. She certainly has the breeding to make a mile and a quarter, but she has looked overmatched in her last three Group 1 starts. She was soundly beaten this May by the aforementioned Xcellence. Given she is trained by the renowned Aidan O’Brian, she cannot be dismissed out of hand, but she has a lot to prove here.

Given the scratch of My Coquestadory, the best of the American runners is Room Service. She has won her last three Graded races, including the Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks in her last. She is listed at 3-1 on the morning line, perhaps a bit of an underlay, but she has won at the distance and until she runs a bad race deserves consideration.

My selections are 7-3-1, and I may throw 8 into the exotics.