Wicked Strong under Remsen consideration

Trainer Jimmy Jerkens expressed satisfaction with Wicked Strong's two-length

victory in a Saturday maiden special weight at Belmont, adding that the

two-year-old could make his next start in the Grade 2, $400,000 Remsen at 1 1/8

miles on November 30 at Aqueduct Racetrack.

"I think we'll eventually go to Florida, but we might entertain the thought

of running in the Remsen," Jerkens said. "We'll have to see. We'll make a

decision in the next week or so."

Wicked Strong, owned by Centennial Farms, had finished second by 5 1/2

lengths in his only other start, a six-furlong maiden special weight contested

in the slop on September 21 at Belmont. Trying a dry track and stretching out to

one mile on Saturday, the Hard Spun colt raced in fifth behind an opening

quarter-mile in :23 before inching up along the outside to engage the leaders on

the upper turn. In front coming into the stretch, he held sway while being

chased home by a trio of pursuers, reaching the wire two lengths to the good of

Cool Samurai.

"He had enough speed to lay pretty close," Jerkens said. "I wouldn't have

minded if (jockey Edgar Prado) had sat there a little longer, but maybe it was

the right move. He didn't do a thing wrong yesterday. He showed a little

inclination to lug in during his works. He did it a little yesterday when he

made the lead, but he was easily handled. I thought his race was perfect,

really."

Jerkens said he expected Wicked Strong to improve off his debut race.

"I thought the mud didn't help him the first time," Jerkens said. "I thought

he ran pretty gamely. He had a license to drop out of there as tight as it was

and with all of the dirt he took. He had three good works since then, so we were

pretty confident. He had acted all along that (route races) might be his thing.

His work two back was a nice work around two turns on the training track (seven

furlongs in 1:29 1/5), and I really liked the way he did it."

In other Remsen-related news on Sunday, Champagne near-misser Honor Code

zipped a half-mile in a bullet :47 on Belmont's fast main track. The Shug

McGaughey pupil will make his two-turn bow in the Remsen.

Also for McGaughey, Kentucky Derby hero Orb drilled five furlongs in a bullet

:59 ahead of his tilt at the Grade 1 Cigar Mile, likewise on November 30.

On the Cigar Mile and Remsen undercard,

Wedding Toast will attempt to emulate her stablemate Dance Card when she makes

her graded stakes debut in the Grade 3, $400,000 Comely for three-year-old

fillies.

Last year, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin and owner Godolphin Racing captured the

Gazelle for sophomore fillies on the Cigar Mile undercard with Dance

Card, who extended her winning streak to four and picked up her first graded

stakes victory. Although the 1 1/8-mile Gazelle has been replaced by the

one-mile Comely, McLaughlin and Godolphin hope history repeats with Wedding

Toast, who has won three straight, including a 3 1/2-length score in the Belle

Cherie overnight stakes on Friday.

"A very nice filly," McLaughlin said of Wedding Toast, a daughter of Street

Sense. "She's similar to Dance Card: she finished second([in her debut) and now

she has won her next three, so, hopefully, she can keep going."

Wedding Toast raced under the Godolphin banner for the first time in the Belle

Cherie. In her previous start, she won an optional claimer by 14 1/2 lengths in

September at Belmont for Darley Stable.

"When you win by 14, you got to go blue!" McLaughlin said of Wedding Toast's

switch from Darley to Godolphin.

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