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[Spalding No!]

Despite being essentially a one-run closer ANGEL OF EMPIRE has a good turn move on smaller tracks and is capable of hitting the front at the top of the stretch. The wider turns at Belmont should make his advancement into a contending position that much easier. He's been consistent and can lay closer if the pace is slow without blunting his late move. His last two works for this have been sharp.

Baffert is in new territory with NATIONAL TREASURE. His previous Belmont winners trained at CD for this, while this colt went directly to Belmont from MD. It's a bit curious that he went that route while ARABIAN LION went back home (he's entered in the Woody Stephens). That's 3 different surfaces to train/race on, which probably put some stress on the horse. In that regard, bullet working him only 5 days before the race when the horse already has what appears to be a huge pace advantage is suspect in my book (though that's pretty much what he did with Justify & AP). Nevertheless, horse got brave with no pressure last time, is one-paced anyways, and his style & class is probably enough to hang on for a piece.

TAPIT TRICE could easily come along for 3rd with a cleaner trip than he got at CD but he's looking like an underlay here probably because of the pedigree. HIT SHOW has trained poorly for this compared to his stablemates, not sold a son of Candy Ride wants to go this far, and he's flattened out in his last two. Would have been more interesting in the Preakness, but he should get a good enough trip to bid for the lead, just don't think he'll see out the distance.

ARCANGELO has the right pedigree and is on the improve, but he didn't settle very well down the backstretch in the Peter Pan, pulling his way onto heels, then had a tough time of it hauling in the Pletcher benchwarmer. On top of that, his trainer opted to put a short bullet work into him 4 days before the race a la Funny Cide in 2003. With the 3 extra furlongs, his rider is going to have his hands full settling him with a slow tempo up top. Perhaps he'll end up impacting NATIONAL TREASURE'S chances. TAPIT SHOES is inconsistent, hasn't shown he's this caliber, and could have shown he's progressing had they run him in the Peter Pan or Sir Barton. Not sure why they sat on him. Playing musical jockeys and probably only in there because of his sire & to please the ownership. IL MIRACOLO is the presumed pace rival for NATIONAL TREASURE but curiously has never shown speed in a graded stakes race.

Not sure what the hell Rosario was doing with RED ROUTE ONE in the Preakness but it was almost as stupid as putting blinkers on a one-run closer as Asmussen did with this horse in the Arkansas Derby. Asmussen seems to have been looking for participation trophies this spring, running overmatched or out of form horses all over the place. One of his owners needs to buy him a horse that someone else did the foundation work on. If he wants to throw stuff against the wall, should have entered this colt in the Woody Stephens.

FORTE looked vulnerable in the Kentucky Derby when he spun his wheels in the FL Derby before finally getting in gear to tag Mage. The late surge was impressive but was probably dressed up by Mage's own spectacular but early move that made him rubber legged down the lane. On top of this, FORTE was taken out of the Derby because he was physically out of sorts (even if you believe he could have still run a competitive race). They elected not to back off the horse, but weren't able to fit in a prep race, and now he tries 12 furlongs without having raced in over 60 days. In addition, he didn't look particularly good in his final work in company despite the bullet ranking. Could make noise if he's in one piece but I wouldn't expect a peak effort here & it could compromise his chances for the Travers.