Alpha Breezes Five Furlongs at Belmont Park

Godolphin Racing’s homebred Alpha  breezed five furlongs in 1:01.93 over the Belmont Park training track May 27, his second published workout since a 12th-place finish in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I).

Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said he called an audible and worked the son of Bernardini  earlier than initially scheduled. He said the colt is on schedule to run in the June 9 Belmont Stales (gr. I), where he will be ridden by Ramon Dominguez in an effort to end I’ll Have Another’s Triple Crown bid.

Piloted by Dominguez at Aqueduct Racetrack this winter, Alpha won a pair of stakes--the Count Fleet and Withers Stakes (gr. III)--and missed by a neck to Gemologist  in the $1 million Resorts World Casino New York City Wood Memorial (gr. I). The colt has been first or second in all but two of his career starts--the May 5 Derby and Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (gr. I), in which he finished 11th. Both off-the-board finishes came at Churchill Downs.

“We’re just going to throw out the Churchill Downs races,” said McLaughlin, who won the 2006 Belmont Stakes with Jazil. “He doesn’t like it there. I have a lot of respect for three or four horses (pointing for the Belmont). I’ll Have Another, Union Rags, Dullahan… but you never know with this mile and a half. You never know. You just have to play each horse as an individual, and take it day by day.”