Nobiz Like Shobiz doubtful for Belmont

Nobiz Like Shobiz's last win came in the Wood Memorial (Eleanor Gustafson/Horsephotos.com) Wood Memorial (G1) winner NOBIZ LIKE SHOBIZ (Albert the Great), who finished a respectable 10th in the Kentucky Derby (G1), breezed five furlongs in 1:00 1/5 on a fast track at Belmont Park on Thursday but is doubtful to run in the $1 million Belmont S. (G1), according to trainer Barclay Tagg. "He worked great, I thought," Tagg said. "He galloped out six furlongs in 1:13, but I'm not planning on running him in the Belmont." Nobiz Like Shobiz worked beneath regular rider Cornelio Velasquez. It was the second-fastest of 10 works at the distance. "If it were a walkover or a two-horse race, I would run," Tagg said. "A $1-million race is a $1-million race." Obviously, Tagg has a great deal of respect for STREET SENSE (Street Cry [Ire]), CURLIN (Smart Strike) and HARD SPUN (Danzig), and feels that the best thing to do would be to give Nobiz Like Shobiz more time to develop. "Right now, I'm planning on races like the Dwyer, Jim Dandy and Travers," Tagg said.

The $150,000 Dwyer S. (G2) is on July 4; the $500,000 Jim Dandy S. (G2) is

scheduled for July 29; and the $1 million Travers S. (G1) will be run on August

25.

At Hollywood Park, Grade 1 winner GREAT HUNTER (Aptitude) breezed five

furlongs in 1:00 4/5 on the Cushion Track with exercise rider Tony Romero up, his

first work since finishing 13th in the Kentucky Derby. The dark bay colt is

considered a definite starter for the 139th running of the Belmont on June 9.

"He worked great," trainer Doug O'Neill said. "I got him galloping out in

1:13 and 1:27."

O'Neill said the colt is doing well and is ready to bounce back off his

disappointing Derby performance.

"His coat and weight looks as good as it did going into the Derby," O'Neill

said. "He's either going to New York on June 4 or 5. That will give him a

couple of chances to school in the paddock there."

Jockey Corey Nakatani rode Great Hunter in the Derby, but O'Neill said he

"hasn't figured to a rider" for the Belmont.

Trainer Todd Pletcher said Thursday that Grade 1 winner CIRCULAR QUAY

(Thunder Gulch) and Kentucky Oaks (G1) queen RAGS TO RICHES (A.P. Indy) are both

training well, but he would not make a decision on whether or not either or both

would run in the Belmont for at least another week.

If she runs, Rags to Riches would be the first filly to run in the Belmont

since Silverbulletday in 1999. Only 21 fillies have ever competed in the Belmont

and only Ruthless, in the first Belmont at defunct Jerome Park in 1867 and Tanya

on May 24, 1905 -- 20 days after Belmont Park opened for business -- ever won

the race.

At Churchill Downs, Kentucky Derby hero Street Sense returned to the track on

Thursday for the first time since his narrow loss to Curlin in the Preakness.

The Carl Nafzger trainee galloped a mile under regular exercise rider Mark

Cutler. Nafzger said Street Sense remained on the list of "possible" starters for

the Belmont.

Trainer Steve Asmussen said Curlin would breeze early Monday morning under

the Twin Spires. Current plans are to work Curlin in the second set, which would

put him on the track around 6:15 a.m. (EDT) on the Memorial Day holiday.

Should Street Sense, Curlin and Hard Spun start in the 1 1/2-mile classic, it

would mark the first time that the same top-three finishers in both the Kentucky

Derby and Preakness squared off in the Belmont.