Ohio Derby
Haskell
Travers
Pennsylvania Derby
Breeders Cup Classic

Then the Pegasus in January. Break.
Oaklawn Handicap in April. Pimlico special next May.

He’s trying to win a graded stakes race in every racing jurisdiction. I probably missed a few.

Tapit Shoes a go for Belmont..

6/10 (BEL): BELMONT STAKES

Tapit Trice (Pletcher/Saez)
Forte (Pletcher/I. Ortiz)
National Treasure (Baffert)
Angel of Empire (Cox)
Hit Show (Cox)
Tapit Shoes (Cox)
Red Route One (Asmussen)
Arcangelo (Antonucci)
Il Miracolo (Sano)

Side note for the undercard, the Met Mile lost Taiba after unsatisfactory training but gained Dr. Schivel who opts for the Met instead of the True North. Bit of a bold move for the latter (it was announced before Taiba came out) with the field that was lining up. Is there a monster in the True North? Where is Elite Power?

Just looked up the nominees for both races. There's some cross-nominees obviously but the True North has about half a dozen horses that have won 5 or 6 of their last 10 starts. Don't know their relative class, but when you get a bunch of horses together who know how to win it usually makes for a good race. Plus Following Sea is back in action. Thought he fell into a black hole since he made no starts in 2022. Fearless, who converted into a staying horse last is also nominated for what presumably would be strictly a prep race at 6 furlongs.

Over on the Met Mile side, I'm interested in Charge It bouncing back. The betting public is sure to abandon him after the money he's burned in his last 2. I hope they shed the blinkers as that move was a complete botch job in the Oaklawn Handicap, though it is not critical as there is not a whole lot of front-running or even pressing speed lined up for the race. Charge It could get a trip similar to last year's Dwyer though obviously there will be much better horses behind waiting to pounce compared to that race.

Where to start....Elite Power was supposed to run in the Met but it feels Mott convinced Juddmonte to run in the True North. As far as Following Sea, he ran a few weeks ago. He's around the eighth pole about now.

Mott is certainly the master of keeping good horses apart. You can count the number of times he ran in-form Geri and Wekiva Springs against Cigar on one hand...

I saw that, but was willing to give him a pass with the layoff & the ill-advised attempt to try to go wire-to-wire going 7 furlongs. I suppose his best races are on the lead but he certainly seemed suited to sitting back a little in the 2020 BC Sprint.

That aside, is he even supposed to show up this weekend off the less than stellar comeback?

My best guess is he next shows up in a Stallion ad. They need to hurry to beat Smile Happy.

McPeek's the best. Smile Happy can't run in both the Met & the Stephen Foster, but Rattle N Roll can wheel back on 13 days rest AND run on the beleaguered CD surface.

Plus now he has TWO for the Stephen Foster, theoretically, unless he takes a page from Mott or winds up on a stallion page (presumably in Idaho?)...

Of course, I could have it all wrong. I haven't checked the probables for any of the Royal Ascot races yet...