Midnight Bourbon to Pass Belmont Stakes

Preakness Stakes (G1) runner-up Midnight Bourbon  will bypass the Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1) June 5 at Belmont Park. The Tiznow  colt will eye races in mid-to-late summer like the TVG.com Haskell Invitational (G1) July 17 at Monmouth Park or the Jim Dandy Stakes (G2) July 31 at Saratoga Race Course, said Winchell Thoroughbreds' racing and bloodstock adviser David Fiske.

"He came out of the Preakness great, but he may have put the groundskeepers out of a job he was eating so much grass," Fiske quipped. "He shipped back to Churchill and has been jogging great. There aren't any big target races after the Belmont prior to the Jim Dandy or Haskell, so we'll focus on those races for now."

Trainer Steve Asmussen could be represented on Belmont Stakes Day by Winchell and Willis Horton Racing's Silver State  in the Hill 'n' Dale Metropolitan Handicap (G1). The 4-year-old Hard Spun   colt has won his last five starts, most recently the April 17 Oaklawn Handicap (G2).

"We've got the Met Mile under consideration," Fiske said. "He went seven-eighths in 1:21 and some change when he won at Churchill (in a November allowance optional claimer), so we feel that anything around seven-eighths to a mile and an eighth would be within his ability."

Fiske added that dual graded stakes-placed Whiskey Double  could ship to Belmont for the July 5 Dwyer Stakes (G3) if the 3-year-old performs well in a May 27 allowance optional claimer at Churchill Downs.