Trainer Todd Pletcher already has the best three-year-old miler in the country in Life Is Good, but will have the quality backups Americanrevolution and Following Sea primed to go instead in the $750,000 Cigar Mile H. (G1) at Aqueduct on Saturday.

The Belmont Stakes Racing Festival opened Thursday with a trio of black-type events. While Con Lima rolled at 8.30-1 in the Wonder Again S. (G3), Change of Control went off at a much shorter 1.45-1 in the Intercontinental S. (G3), and Happy Soul aired as a prohibitive odds-on favorite in the Astoria S.