Belmont Preview: Champagne for Bobby

Belmont plays host to an excellent card on Saturday
Timeform's Graeme North previews the Frizette Stakes, the Foxwoods Champagne Stakes and the Jamaica Handicap at Belmont on Saturday.
FRIZETTE (off 16:02 local time, 21:02 BST)
The Frizette is the first of three G1 races at Belmont on Saturday and features exciting leading East coast juvenile filly Dreaming of Julia. She has won both her races so far including the Meadow Star Stakes over this course and distance last time when running to a Timeform rating of 120 in beating a filly by more than 16 lengths that had made the frame in Graded events on her previous two starts. It probably wasn't unexpected, either, given her long odds-on starting price and a repeat should see her home readily given the amount she has in hand and that her stamina is assured. Second top rated My Happy Face also scored by a huge margin when most recently seen at Saratoga but that race was over five and a half furlongs and being by an 8.5f winner out of a winning sprinter, her stamina for this much longer trip has to be taken on trust. Unbeaten Emerald Downs shipper Roveing Patrol is open to improvement but is taking on much stiffer competition than she has faced so far while Sweet Shirley Mae ran her best race yet last time when second in the G1 Spinaway at Saratoga but doesn't look good enough. A good run from Spring in the Air in Friday's Alcibiades at Keeneland would be a boost for Nancy O but just how this daughter of Pivotal handles dirt having been kept to the turf so far remains to be seen.
FOXWOODS CHAMPAGNE (off 16:34 local, 21:34 BST)
Dreaming of Julia's trainer Todd Pletcher has a very strong hand this year in the juvenile division and will look to double up here with Shanghai Bobby who by our reckoning is the best of the colts seen out so far on either Coast and, like Dreaming of Julia, has already run to a Timeform rating of 120. That performance came in the G2 Hopeful at Saratoga last time when he had Goldolphin's Fortify and previous G2 winner Bern Identity back in second and third and the merit of that effort has been advertised since by the fourth Overanalyse who went on to win the G2 Futurity at Belmont. By Harlan's Holiday, Shanghai Bobby will have no trouble staying the mile and should again be too good for Fortify and the now-exposed Bern Identity. It's hard to see sole British challenger and Giant's Causeway colt Chief Havoc winning this for all his dam won a maiden on the main track here if he couldn't win a minor event at Newbury last time, so perhaps the main danger to Shanghai Bobby will come from either of his stablemates Archangel or Micromanage who both won maidens at Saratoga. Goldencents is also interesting given that trainer Doug O'Neill has a very good line to the top West Coast juveniles through his own Know More and has shipped this 7-length Del Mar maiden winner in from Southern California, but with Archangel surprisingly put in as the Morning Line favourite Shanghai Bobby rather picks himself in this one.
JAMAICA (off 17:06 local time, 22:06 BST)
There is more British interest, though perhaps not as much as there ought to be given the meagre strength in depth among the North American three-year-olds, not least on turf, in the Jamaica Handicap when Brian Meehan's Cogito takes on Dullahan and Summer Front in the Jamaica Handicap. A luckless eighth in the St James Palace at Ascot having won his first two races, Cogito took a further step forward in the G2 Prix Eugene Adam at Maisons-Laffitte last time splitting two subsequent winners including G1 Secretariat Stakes victor Bayrir. He looks to have a bit to find at the weights but even so looks the main threat to Dullahan whose defeat of Game On Dude last time in the Pacific Classic at Del Mar is unquestionably the best piece of form on offer. It may be that Dullahan is best on a synthetic surface given he has won all of his three races on one, all in G1 events too, but only two horses finished ahead of him in the Kentucky Derby on dirt and he was placed in two Graded events from three starts on fast turf when still in his formative days. There are good reasons for thinking that he will reverse form easily with Howe Great, who beat him in the first of those Graded events but hasn't progressed since, and if anything will stop him it might be soft ground with rain around in the New York and racing moved off the turf on Thursday. Summer Front, who suffered his first defeat on turf in six races when third in the Secretariat will appreciate the drop back in trip and has definite place claims if conditions are quick but is another unproven on soft ground. One horse that will appreciate soft ground and is on the upgrade is Unbridled Command who had two of these behind when winning a G3 at Saratoga last time out but he really ought to be receiving at least twice the 6lb he is getting from Dullahan.
Recommended bet
1pt win SHANGHAI BOBBY in the Champagne