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Vyjack's breeze rescheduled for Tuesday; Frac Daddy confirmed for Belmont

Last updated: 6/3/13 5:50 PM

Vyjack's breeze rescheduled for Tuesday; Frac Daddy

confirmed for Belmont

Vyjack will have Julien Leparoux aboard for the Belmont

(Ross Woodson/Horsephotos.com)

Monday morning rain at Belmont Park prompted trainer Rudy Rodriguez to push back Vyjack's scheduled

breeze to Tuesday, four days ahead of his engagement in the Grade 1, $1 million

Belmont Stakes. Instead, the gelding galloped 1 1/2 miles over the main

track with Rodriguez aboard.

"He jogged a bit and galloped the wrong way," Rodriguez said. "He was acting up

a little bit and I didn't want him fighting me, so I opened him up a little bit.

He seems good."

Rodriguez said Vyjack's Tuesday breeze will come at 8:45 a.m. (EDT). The trainer also

confirmed that Julien Leparoux will ride the Pick Six Racing colorbearer for

the first time in the Belmont Stakes.

"He's a very good rider and has very good hands," Rodriguez said of Leparoux.

"So, hopefully, he'll be able to get the horse to relax and be at the back of

the pack. And, hopefully, he'll be able to make a move."

Vyjack -- who opened his career with four victories, including the Gotham

in March at Aqueduct -- is looking to regain the winning thread in the Belmont

after finishing third in the Wood Memorial at the Big A in April and 18th in the Kentucky Derby on May 4.

Trainer Ken McPeek confirmed Monday morning that Magic City Thoroughbred

Partners' Frac Daddy will run Saturday in the  Belmont Stakes.

McPeek said the Scat Daddy colt will fly to New York from Kentucky tomorrow and

be ridden in the third leg of the Triple Crown by Alan Garcia.

"Talking to Carter Stewart, the principal partner for Magic City, he's game, you

know?" McPeek said. "We still believe this is a really, really good horse, but

for whatever reason it hasn't happened for him. Sometimes you throw deep and it

goes incomplete, but you can't score if you don't throw. (Stewart) is the ideal

client to throw deep and we won the Travers for him last year (with dead-heat

winner Golden Ticket)."

Frac Daddy, who descends from 1997 Delaware Handicap winner Power Play, has

one win in seven career starts. He broke his maiden in his second start last

November at Churchill Downs and then finished second in the Kentucky Jockey Club.

Frac Daddy is out of a mare by Hall of Famer Skip Away, runner-up in both the Preakness and Belmont in 1996

(Oaklawn Park/Coady Photography)

This year, he disappointed McPeek with a sixth-place finish in the Holy

Bull at Gulfstream Park, and then was three wide on the far turn when seventh

behind Orb in the Florida Derby. Frac Daddy ran in the Kentucky Derby and

finished 16th.

"I do believe the horse will run well," McPeek said of the plan to go in the

Belmont. "I think the pace in the Belmont will suit him well, too. He drew

outside in the Derby and couldn't get position, and I don't think he handled the

slop. He's worked on a dry track a couple times recently and worked freaky good.

I think he's got a big shot at it."

Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey said Kentucky Derby winner Orb was

maintaining good form Monday, the morning after the colt breezed four furlongs,

his final major work prior to the Belmont.

"He came out of his work good, ate up good, walked this morning, seems to be

fine," said McGaughey, who trains the son of Malibu Moon for Stuart S. Janney

III and Phipps Stable.

As many as 15 horses could end up contesting the 2013 Belmont Stakes, which

could force Orb, a stretch runner, and jockey Joel Rosario to thread their way

through traffic.

"(The large field is) more concerning than anything else because not all of

them in there belong, but they have as much right to run as anybody else, so I

do think the race will be pretty spread out," McGaughey said. "He ran with 18 in

the Derby."

Trainer Todd Pletcher reported Monday morning that all five of his Belmont

Stakes hopefuls were "A-OK" following their breezes on Sunday, and that a

decision on race status for the filly Unlimited Budget and the lightly

raced Midnight Taboo was still pending.

"I have not yet spoken with (owner) Mike Repole, and he will make the final

decision," said Pletcher, who definitely will saddle WinStar

Farm's Revolutionary, Dogwood Stable's Palace Malice, and Repole's Overanalyze in

the 1 1/2-mile race.

Incognito, fifth in the Peter Pan, also emerged from his Sunday workout

in good shape, according to Art Magnuson, assistant to trainer Kiaran

McLaughlin.

Trainer Dominick Schettino said on Monday he and owners Anthony and MaryEllen

Bonomo will make a final decision on Always in a Tiz's status for the

Belmont by Tuesday afternoon. Schettino and the Bonomos will choose either the Belmont

Stakes or the $150,000 Easy Goer on Saturday's undercard for Always in a Tiz,

most recently ninth in the Wood Memorial.

D. Wayne Lukas' Belmont Stakes contenders Oxbow and Will Take Charge remain

scheduled to arrive at Belmont Park via van Monday evening.

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