Bold Ruler, Turnback the Alarm Handicaps help wrap up Belmont's fall meet

A pair of $200,000 Grade 3 contests, the seven-furlong

Bold Ruler and

1 1/16-mile

Turnback the

Alarm Handicaps, are the final two graded stakes of Belmont

Park's fall meet, which concludes on Sunday. Thoroughbred action moves to

Aqueduct on November 1.

Six will line up in the Bold Ruler, headed by the David Jacobson-trained Strapping Groom.

That six-year-old son of Johannesburg came

off an 11-month layoff to run second in a 6 1/2-furlong claimer on May 24, and

joined Jacobson's barn after being claimed by the conditioner on behalf of

himself and Drawing Away Stable.

"My brother Douglas and I claim a lot of horses, and we

both had our eye on this horse from the year before," Jacobson explained. "When

he came back off the layoff, we thought it was a good opportunity. Like some of

them, he turned out to be a good one."

In his first start for his new connections, Strapping Groom

recorded a front-running 3 1/2-length victory in the

Lion Cavern overnight stakes on June 26. Following a fifth in the James

Marvin at Saratoga, the chestnut returned to his winning ways in the Kid

Russell and then pulled off a 15-1 upset of the Forego. Last out,

he ran third to Breeders' Cup Sprint-bound Private Zone and Justin Phillip in

the Vosburgh Invitational on September 28.

"I thought he ran very well in his last race," Jacobson said. "A lot of those

big names are at the Breeders' Cup so I think he's going to be very tough in

here. He's doing really well and we're very excited about the race."

"When we decided not to do to the Breeders' Cup Sprint,

this became the most logical option," trainer Todd Pletcher remarked.

"Seven-eighths is probably his ideal distance."

Joel Rosario rides the Tale of the Cat colt, who will break from the

rail.

Big Screen, who came off a two-month freshening to earn his first official

stakes win in the

Who's To Pay overnight stakes on the turf last out, returns to dirt looking

for his first graded score. Disqualified from first to second in an

off-the-turf edition of the June 7 Jaipur, the Speightstown four-year-old was third in

the grassy Poker on Independence Day and next finished fifth in a main-track

optional claimer going 1 1/8 miles at Saratoga.

"He ran well in the Who's To Pay, which was his second

start on the turf this year," trainer Tom Albertrani stated. "He's pretty

versatile and this looks like a good race to bring him back in. The timing was

right for the Bold Ruler. It's a good race for him to try and win, and we'll try

to get one more race in him before we ship him to Florida."

Big Screen will be ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr. on Saturday.

Rosario will ride Centring, who is the 2-1 morning-line

favorite.

Both Royal Lahaina and Fantasy of Flight will be making

their first starts for trainer Todd Pletcher in the Turnback the Alarm. Royal

Lahaina took an off-the-turf edition of the restricted Mariensky in June for

Rudy Rodriguez, while Fantasy of Flight was second in the Vagrancy

Handicap and Bed o' Roses for Michelle Nevin.

Since the Mariensky, Royal Lahaina finished fifth in the Shuvee Handicap at Saratoga and second in the Lady's

Secret at Monmouth Park. Fantasy of Flight was second in an

optional claimer on the turf in July at Saratoga and will be stretching out in

distance off a seventh in the seven-furlong Ballerina on August 23,

also at the Spa.

"We've had Royal Lahaina for five or six weeks now and

she's been training well," Pletcher remarked. "There haven't been a lot of options for her, so we've been targeting

this for a while now.

"It's a similar situation with Fantasy of Flight. Most of her races have been

shorter, but we're going to try her at 1 1/16 miles."

In her lone start beyond a mile, Fantasy of Flight was

second in a one-mile, 70-yard optional claimer at Aqueduct in March

2012.

Jose Ortiz has the call on Royal Lahaina while Fantasy of Flight will depart from the rail

with Hall of Famer John Velazquez aboard.

Since then, the bay five-year-old has won the Open Mind at Belmont

and finished second in Saratoga's Alada and Belmont's Parlo. All three races were restricted stakes on the main track, with the Alada having been contested in the slop.

"She has been doing really well since we put her on the

dirt, and we're looking forward to trying a graded stake on the dirt," Brown

said. "She had been running on the turf over in France. She had always trained

well on the dirt, and her pedigree suggested she could possibly handle the dirt.

When the opportunity came to try her on the dirt, we went for it, and it has

worked out well so far."

Street Secret will have the services of meet-leading jockey Javier Castellano

as she seeks a return to the winner's circle.

Roman Invader, who defeated Street Secret in the Parlo,

is looking to rebound off a last-of-five performance in the Beldame. The Parlo was

Roman Invader's first win in five starts since she was claimed for $62,500 in

June by Jacobson, who owns her in partnership with Christopher T.

Dunn. Since being claimed, the six-year-old daughter of Roman Ruler has routed, sprinted

and raced on both dirt and turf, but Jacobson says the bay mare is best

going long on the main track.

"It was hard getting her into the groove of running. We

were having trouble finding the right races," he explained. "There were few

races (for her) in Saratoga, and she was running on the grass. She can run on

the grass, but she seems to excel on the dirt. That kind of showed when she

finished second in that optional claiming race.