Belmont Notes

Pletcher picks up where he left off at Belmont - as simple as 1-2-3. Three winners from his first three starters at the meet; two of those on Wednesday. In the second, Flying Train ($5) graduated for a 25K tag, and was taken by David Jacobsen. Mike Repole paid $100,000 for this two-year old daughter of Empire Maker, but it seems he had no more use for her than Delaware Republicans do for electable candidates, debuting her at 50K, and then losing her for 25K (plus the $12.6K winners share) here, as she romped by 11.

In the 3rd, Bonavento, 3-1 on the morning line, paid $16.20 to win for the Toddster. Winning Touch was 4th at 7-10; he was one of Chad Brown's six first-out winners at Saratoga.

In the 4th, Alpha Centauri was a hot number on the board at 9-5 in her debut, for trainer Christophe Clement, also off to a good start with two winners on opening day. A debut late in her three-year old season was probably not what the owners had in mind when they paid $600,000 for this daughter of Dynaformer as a weanling in 2007. She's out of a Distant View half-sister to Etoile Montante, a Group 1 winner in France; and descends from the distaff family of graded stakes winners Sightseek, Pollard's Vision, Tates Creek, and Bowman's Band. At the back of the pack early on, Alpha Centauri was gaining in the stretch, but, according to the chart, apparently ran out of real estate. The winner, Lady Whimsical, was making her first start on the grass, for trainer Bruce Brown. She's by Cactus Ridge (Hennessy) out of a Mr. Greeley half-sister to the NY-bred multiple grass stakes winner Latitude Forty. She apparently paid $16.20 to win.