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

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."

Junior Alvarado will be aboard Strapping Groom, who is the

122-pound highweight and 9-5 favorite on the morning-line for the Bold Ruler.

Multiple Grade 2 winner Forty Tales, most recently

fourth in both the King's Bishop and Vosburgh, is bypassing the Breeders' Cup Sprint in favor of the Bold Ruler. The

late-running three-year-old turned in a stellar performance in June to win the

Woody Stephens on Belmont Stakes Day, and followed

that with another fast-closing effort to take the Amsterdam at Saratoga.

"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.

Rounding out the field are Grade 3 victor and Canadian invader Clearly

Now, who was a close third in the Woody Stephens in

his only appearance at Belmont; Grade 3-placed Saturday's Charm, runner-up in the Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash at Laurel Park last out; and Politicallycorrect,

second in the James Marvin at Saratoga two back in July.

One race later, Centring will attempt to register her first stakes victory

when she competes in the Turnback the Alarm for fillies and mares. Five of the eight entrants in the

race have captured at least one stakes, but none have won at the graded level.

The five-year-old Centring has faced Grade 1 rivals in her past four races,

finishing third in her last two starts in the Personal Ensign Invitational

Handicap in August at Saratoga and Beldame Invitational

on September 28 at Belmont. In addition, the bay mare was third in Belmont's Ogden Phipps Handicap in May, which she followed with a fourth in the Delaware Handicap in July.

In the Personal Ensign, Centring raced as far as 17 lengths

off the pace before picking up the pieces to finish 6 1/4 lengths behind winner Royal

Delta. She raced just off the pace in the Beldame but couldn't match strides

late with the top two, reporting home 8 3/4 lengths behind the winner, Princess of

Sylmar, who defeated Royal Delta by two lengths. Both races had five starters.

Centring is by 1992 Horse of the Year and Belmont Stakes

winner A.P. Indy and out of dual Grade 1 winner Composure, and her connections

are hoping to win a graded stakes with her before she is retired for broodmare

duty.

"She's managed to be stakes-placed a couple of times this

year, so we're pretty happy about that," Albertrani said of his charge. "We're

still hoping to get a stakes win under her. Hopefully, this is a good

opportunity to make her a stakes winner. This could be her last year in

training. We still have a little time (after the Turnback the Alarm). We still

have the opportunity to, maybe, bring her down to Florida.

"She's been racing with some of the top fillies this year," Albertrani added.

"She has been managing to get a piece of the purse in these big races.

Hopefully, this will be a bit of a class break her for her. We'll see how she

competes here."

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.

Street Secret, who placed in three stakes on the turf in

Europe, has found her niche on the dirt in the United States since being

transferred to trainer Chad Brown. The five-year-old daughter of Street Cry began

her stateside career with a win in an optional claimer at Gulfstream Park and a

dead-heat third in the Miss Liberty in May at Monmouth Park on the grass before

she switched surfaces.

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.

"When she went long on the dirt (in the Parlo) she just exploded. We ran her

back a little too quick in the Beldame, but we freshened her up a little bit and

she's pretty sharp coming into this. I think this will be an easier spot."

The Turnback the Alarm field is completed by Lady Cohiba, who won an

off-the-turf renewal of the Glens Falls on September 2 at Saratoga; Stanwyck, a

half-sister to Grade 1 winners Giacomo and Tiago; and Moon Philly, a 5 1/2-length winner

of the Justakiss on October 7 at Delaware Park.

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