Belmont Notes

- Linda Rice, this year's Saratoga training champion, is 0 for 10 at Belmont, and winless with her last 26 starters overall; all but three of those went off at odds of 8-1 or lower. And only three have finished as well as third.

- In the second on Saturday, McLaughlin starts the first-time starter Muhaaseb. I was following the follies of this barn's debut runners at Saratoga, but he did have a winner here at Belmont in Forty Moons...albeit in a four horse field of all first-timers. I'm still wary though, especially for this son of Ghostzapper, the first-year sire who hasn't yet had much success at all. In fact, he's hasn't even had many runners, only 12, with three winners; one of them, Golden Ghost, a minor stakes winner.

Of course, that's not a surprise given that the sire himself only raced twice at two, and didn't achieve greatness until he was four. So, we'll have to wait and see how his progeny develop....though, at $125,000 a pop, the 2009 average sales price of $101,000 isn't going to do.

West Point debuts Quiet All American (Forest Camp), a $225K purchase earlier this year. Nice looking horse, check it out.

The third race seems to have been written specifically for Chief Export (3-1). It's for horses who haven't won since March 12; and this one last visited the winner's circle on March 11. So, Contessa drops him in from open company after claiming him for the same 16K tag. The trainer may also have noticed that he finished just a length behind his Starforaday in the July 30 race at Saratoga, and that one has since stepped up and won two in a row. Band of Thunder (5-2) was a close second in this class last time out, and was claimed, for Ken Ramsey, by Michael Maker, 30% first time off the halter. Completes the cold exacta, EZ game (ha ha).

In the 10th, Double Domino (5-1) will look for some running room this time for the Toddster and Kent D. This son of Stormy Atlantic was stretched out second off a year layoff in his last, but was completely bottled up for the entirety of the stretch run. Still, finished just 1 1/2 lengths behind with a career high Beyer; looks like good value at his morning line in his third race of the form cycle.