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Irad Ortiz, Jr. will ride Lookin At Lee in the Belmont Stakes.
As expected, both Grade 1 Kentucky Derby champion Always Dreaming and Grade 1 Preakness States winner Cloud Computing were removed from consideration for the June 10 Grade 1 Belmont Stakes.
- Always Dreaming will be pointed to a return in Monmouth Park’s Grade 1 Haskell Invitational on July 30 or Saratoga’s Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes on July 29.
- Cloud Computing will aim to return in the Jim Dandy.
- Cloud Computing trainer Chad Brown confirmed that two-time Laurel stakes victor Twisted Tom will represent his barn in the Belmont Stakes with Javier Castellano in the irons.
- Preakness runner-up Classic Empire will do all of his serious training at Churchill Downs before shipping to New York the week of the Belmont Stakes.
- Irad Ortiz, Jr. will ride Kentucky Derby runner-up Lookin At Lee for the first time in the final leg of the Triple Crown.
- Santa Anita-based Gormley, ninth last out in the Kentucky Derby, remains under consideration for the Belmont Stakes, but trainer John Shirreffs said a final workout on June 3 would determine whether he wants to ship his charge east for the mile and a half contest.
- Jason Loutsch of owners Albaugh Family Stable confirmed that Kentucky Derby 15th-place runner J Boys Echo will run in the Belmont Stakes.
- Irap, who finished 18th more than 40 lengths behind Always Dreaming in the Derby, will complete his Belmont Stakes preparations at Santa Anita and ship to New York the week of the race.
- Hall of Famer Mike Smith will have the mount on Grade 3 Peter Pan Stakes runner-up Meantime in the Belmont.
- Trainer Dallas Stewart said Hollywood Handsome, who won a first-level allowance at Churchill Downs on May 14, is under consideration for the Belmont Stakes but is more likely to run in the Ohio Derby at Thistledown on June 24.
- Kentucky Derby fifth-place finisher Practical Joke returned to the work tab and is targeting the July 8 Grade 3 Dwyer Stakes at Belmont Park.
- Peter Pan Stakes hero Timeline is headed to the Grade 3 Pegasus Stakes at Monmouth Park on June 18.
