Kentucky Derby (G1) winner and Preakness S. (G1) runner-up ANIMAL KINGDOM (Leroidesanimaux
[Brz]) is scheduled to arrive at Belmont Park early Sunday morning, and will
gallop over the main track in advance of Monday’s final workout for the 143rd
running of the $1 million Belmont S. (G1) on June 11, trainer Graham Motion said
Saturday.
“He’ll be leaving here about 4 a.m. and should arrive between 7 and 7:30
a.m.,” Motion said from the Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland. “We expect to
gallop him on the main track after the break (8:45 a.m.) and then he will breeze
Monday morning, also after the break.”
Kharag Stables’ HARLAN’S HELLO (Harlan’s Holiday) breezed at Belmont Park
Saturday morning, but trainer Doodnauth Shivmangal has yet to decide whether the
colt will join stablemate ISN’T HE PERFECT (Pleasantly Perfect) in the starting
gate for the Belmont.
With Rajiv Maragh aboard, Harlan’s Hello traveled four furlongs in the fast
main track in :51 4/5, according to NYRA clockers.
The move was Harlan’s Hello’s second official workout following his nose
victory in a 1 1/16-mile optional claimer at Belmont on May 13. He is also under
consideration for the Time for a Change overnight stakes on Friday.
“We didn’t go for a hard work,” Shivmangal said. “We expect a lot of Harlan’s
Hello, but we want to take more time with him. We want him to mature. He just
had his birthday on May 8. We know he has a lot of potential, based off the race
he just ran. It was a hard race for him. He’s doing fine — he’s eating and
doing everything perfectly — but I just want to make sure we put him in the
right spot.”
Shivmangal said he will make a final decision on Harlan’s Hello by Tuesday.
“We are thinking about where we are going to put both of them,” Shivmangal
said. “Isn’t He Perfect is already there. Harlan’s Hello, we may take a little
longer with him. We don’t know if we’re going to go to the Belmont or not. I
don’t like running two horses in the same race.”
Isn’t He Perfect, ninth in the Preakness for owner Shivmangal Racing Stable,
will most likely gallop up to a start in the Belmont, but Shivmangal didn’t
completely rule out breezing him on Wednesday.
“We gave him two-minute licks this morning, and the exercise rider came back
and said he did very well,” Shivmangal said. “He’s eating perfectly and taking
the things he normally takes. I gallop him two miles a day. Maybe Wednesday I
might give him a three-eighths breeze just to open up his wind a little, but
nothing much more.”
Maragh will ride Isn’t He Perfect in the Belmont.