Trainers Seeking a Twist of Lemon

Five years ago, Lemon Drop Kid ran third in the Peter Pan at Belmont Park, then two weeks later won the Belmont Stakes, depriving Charismatic of a Triple Crown sweep. So it can happen.

With Lemon Drop Kid as their inspiration, trainers of at least four horses in today’s Peter Pan are looking for more encouragement to run their colts back against Smarty Jones in the Belmont on June 5.

Two of the Peter Pan starters -- Master David and Friends Lake -- were far behind Smarty Jones in the Kentucky Derby. But the Derby was run in a quagmire, and Bobby Frankel, who trains Master David, and John Kimmel, who handles Friends Lake, each would like another shot against Smarty Jones on a fast track. Frankel beat Funny Cide with Empire Maker in last year’s Belmont.

Kimmel seemed to be thumbing his nose at Derby history when he ran Friends Lake at Churchill Downs off a seven-week layoff. The Florida Derby winner finished 15th.

“He was dead-on ready to run,” Kimmel said. “But it turned into a real bummer when the weather disintegrated and the track fell apart.”

Friends Lake is a son of A.P. Indy, who won the 1992 Peter Pan en route to a Belmont Stakes victory. “I want him to finish well and show that he belongs,” Kimmel said.

The $200,000 Peter Pan is a 1 1/8-mile stake, three-eighths of a mile shorter than the Belmont.

Before his 12th-place finish in the Derby, Master David was second at Aqueduct in the Wood Memorial, half a length behind Tapit.

“I think he’ll like the track,” Frankel said of Master David, who has never run at Belmont. “I don’t know what I have to see in order to go on to the Belmont. I’ll just have to get the right feeling.”

Master David will be ridden by California-based Alex Solis, who is atop the jockeys’ money list with $9.2 million.

Other Peter Pan horses who might return in the Belmont are Sinister G and Swingforthefences. Rick Violette Jr. trains both Swingforthefences and Read The Footnotes, who has had knee surgery since finishing seventh in the Derby. Swingforthefences hasn’t run since he was fourth, beaten by two lengths, in the Wood.

“He ran well against some nice horses [Tapit, Master David and Eddington] in the Wood,” Violette said. “He’d have to run off the screen and come back kicking and screaming to run in the Belmont. You just never know about 3-year-olds. All of a sudden they can wake up and improve by five lengths.”

The opposition for Smarty Jones in the Belmont will have to improve more than that. The undefeated chestnut dashed any notions that his Derby win was an off-track fluke when he leveled his Preakness rivals by 11 1/2 lengths on a fast track. A Belmont win would make Smarty Jones the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978.

Relaxed Gesture, who races for Irish trainer Dermot Weld, has been withdrawn from the Belmont. Weld, who shipped Go And Go into New York to win the Belmont in 1990, would rather run in the Italian Derby, on May 30, than tackle Smarty Jones.

Belmont probables include Rock Hard Ten and Eddington, who were 2-3 in the Preakness, plus Royal Assault and Tapit. Nick Zito, who trains Royal Assault, may also run The Cliff’s Edge and Birdstone. The Cliff’s Edge, fifth in the Derby and scratched the day before the Preakness because of a foot injury, has resumed training.

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Azeri is expected to run against males for the first time in the $750,000 Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park on May 31. Funny Cide and Pico Central are other probables for the mile race.

Lion Heart, who dropped off the Triple Crown trail after running second in the Kentucky Derby and fourth in the Preakness, is headed for the $300,000 Swaps Stakes at Hollywood Park on July 10.

Halfbridled, winless this year after going undefeated as a 2-year-old, has a stress fracture of a cannon bone that will sideline her until late in the year.

Dublino, winner of the Del Mar Oaks and disqualified after finishing first in the American Oaks at Hollywood Park, has been retired because of a suspensory injury.