Giant Ryan, Trinniberg headline Belmont sprint stakes

by Jennifer Caldwell

Giant Ryan is currently 2-0-1 from three starts at Belmont Park and on

Saturday will seek to improve that mark when starting as the 120-pound

highweight in the Grade 2, $400,000

True

North Handicap. The six-furlong contest will be accompanied on the Belmont

Stakes undercard by a pair of stakes restricted to sophomores -- the Grade 2,

$400,000

Woody Stephens Stakes going seven furlongs and the $100,000

Easy

Goer Stakes at 1 1/16 miles.

Giant Ryan hasn't been seen in competition since a fifth-place run in the

Group 1 Dubai Golden Shaheen at Meydan in late March. The Bisnath Parboo trainee

has dropped his past two starts but put together a six-race win streak last

season that included the Grade 1 Vosburgh Invitational and Grade 2 Smile Sprint

Handicap, both at six furlongs. He was bumped and eventually faded to eighth in

the Breeders' Cup Sprint to close out his five-year-old campaign and will try to

rebound off his Dubai showing.

Willie Martinez, aboard when Giant Ryan captured the Ponche Handicap last

June, traveled to Dubai with the bay son of Freud and retains the mount on

Saturday.

While Giant Ryan will start in the True North off a two-month break, Caixa

Eletronica will be returning from a two-week layoff. The Arromanches

seven-year-old was third to his rival in the Vosburgh, but thus far this season

has captured the Grade 2 Charles Town Classic and Rise Jim Stakes. Most recently

the Todd Pletcher charge ran fourth in the Grade 1 Met Mile on Memorial Day and

will keep Javier Castellano in the irons.

Also lining up in the True North are Smiling Tiger, Hamazing Destiny and

Pacific Ocean. The former is a three-time Grade 1 scorer who hasn't visited the

winner's circle since taking the Grade 1 Triple Bend Handicap last July at

Hollywood Park. A five-year-old son of Hold That Tiger, Smiling Tiger ran fifth

in his 2012 bow on the Kentucky Derby undercard in the Grade 2 Churchill Downs

Stakes.

Hamazing Destiny also competed in that race, finishing seventh, but bounced

back two weeks later to take the Grade 3 Maryland Sprint Handicap on the

Preakness undercard. The Salt Lake six-year-old -- who sent his Hall of Fame

trainer, D. Wayne Lukas, to the hospital Tuesday afternoon after rearing up and

striking him on the head -- will be trying Belmont's dirt for the first time in

the True North.

Pacific Ocean brings the longest vacation into the race as he was last seen

adding the Grade 3 Vernon O. Underwood Stakes to his resume in late November at

Hollywood Park. The Ghostzapper gelding posted bullet moves at Aqueduct the past

couple months while preparing for his five-year-old debut.

Crossbow, Royal Currier and Justin Phillip all enter the True North off easy

wins, with the latter two recording those triumphs over course and distance.

Champion Hansen was scheduled to return from his ninth-place run in the

Kentucky Derby in Saturday's Woody Stephens Stakes, but a low blood count has

prompted trainer Mike Maker to keep the near-white colt in the barn. That leaves

Trinniberg the likely favorite for the seven-furlong event.

Trinniberg romped when going that same distance in the Swale and Bay Shores,

both Grade 3 stakes, before his connections opted to try stretching him out for

the Kentucky Derby. The Teuflesberg colt finished 17th after chasing the early

pace and was sent back to trainer Parboo's Calder base to begin preparations for

this one. Martinez has been in the saddle for Trinniberg's past three races and

stays aboard for the Woody Stephens.

Grade 3 Derby Trial hero Hierro and Chick Lang Stakes winner Il Villano are

among Trinniberg's biggest rivals. The former, a Steve Asmussen-trained son of

Hard Spun, has scored both of his wins at Churchill. Il Villano placed in both

the Grade 2 Hutcheson and Count Fleet prior to his 4 3/4-length romp in the

Chick Lang last out. The Pollard's Vision gray has been drilling bullets at Parx

Racing in the interim.

The Easy Goer will kick-off the stakes action on Belmont Stakes Day as nine

sophomores head to post. The field is highlighted by Grade 1 Wood Memorial third

Teeth of the Dog, who ran a one-paced fifth in the Preakness Stakes last out.

The Bluegrass Cat colt will get a jockey switch to Joel Rosario for the Easy

Goer.

Bet the Belmont Stakes at TwinSpires.com