Horse Racing News

Birdrun, taking a page from the playbook Shackleford is likely to use on Saturday in the Belmont Stakes, led from start to finish going 1 1/2 miles at Belmont Park on Friday in the Grade 2, $150,000 Brooklyn Handicap for older horses.

Courageous Cat made a successful return to the races, overcoming slow early fractions and overpowering longshot pacesetter Yield Bogey with a furlong to run to take Friday's Grade 3, $100,000 Poker Stakes by 2 1/4 lengths at Belmont Park.

Like all horses when they are 3, Drosselmeyer only got one chance to run in the Belmont Stakes, and he made the most of it. But one year later, he still has the opportunity to run 1 1/2 miles at Belmont Park, and trainer Bill Mott has seized the moment.

Gio Ponti will oblige his loyal fans with his presence for a third consecutive year in Saturday's Grade 1, $400,000 Manhattan Handicap, a 1 1/4-mile inner turf heat which precedes the classic Belmont Stakes on a 13-race program.

Kentucky Derby favorite Animal Kingdom has been made the 2-1 favorite in a field of 12 for the Belmont Stakes.

On Thursday, more than a half-dozen jockeys from Belmont Park will ride into the hearts of families at the Ronald McDonald House of Long Island as part of the annual Jockey Day event.

Trainer Christophe Clement probably picked out Friday's Grade 3, $100,000 Poker Stakes at Belmont Poker as a way to ease his French-bred gelding Right One into North American graded stakes competition.

Denied last year from becoming the first back-to-back winner of the Brooklyn Handicap since Waquoit (1987-88), Eldaafer can still make a little history with a second career win in Friday's 1 1/2-mile marathon over one lap of Belmont Park's hallowed oval.

The older he gets, the more intriguing Twirling Candy becomes.

Caleb's Posse came through as the favorite Saturday when rolling past longshot Marco's Fling to capture the 77th running of the Grade 3, $100,000 Ohio Derby at Thistledown in the Cleveland suburb of North Randall, Ohio.