Kid Cruz Brings Hot Streak into Brooklyn

Vina Del Mar Thoroughbreds and Black Swan Stable's Kid Cruz will look to win his third straight stakes June 11 in the $400,000 Brooklyn Invitational (gr. II) at Belmont Park, but a field with several entrants featuring back class at an unfamiliar distance might provide pitfalls for the son of Lemon Drop Kid  .

The 5-year-old Linda Rice trainee is one of two horses in the 10-horse field entering the 1 1/2-mile race off a victory—along with Turco Bravo, winner of the May 15 Flat Out Stakes—but Kid Cruz's last victory came in the Excelsior Stakes (gr. III) at Aqueduct Racetrack April 9 in which he defeated Turco Bravo by 7 1/4 lengths.

Kid Cruz also has wins at Big Sandy, with scores in the 2014 Easy Goer and Dwyer (gr. III) stakes, but he never has tried the 1 1/2-mile distance.

My Meadowview Farm's Samraat, however, has a run at the distance in Belmont's most famous 12-furlong test. The now 5-year-old Noble Causeway horse finished sixth, four lengths behind Tonalist  , in the 2014 Belmont Stakes (gr. I). But the Richard Violette-trained runner hasn't found the winner's circle since the 2014 Gotham Stakes (gr. III) at Aqueduct and enters the Brooklyn on a six-race winless streak, including a second-place finish last time out in Belmont's Westchester Stakes (gr. III) May 7.

Last year's Canadian champion 3-year-old colt, Stronach Stables' homebred Shaman Ghost, also provides an intriguing option in his first try at the distance. The Ghostzapper   colt now trained by Jimmy Jerkens won the Marine Stakes (Can-III) and Queen's Plate on the Woodbine synthetic main track in 2015 for Brian Lynch, and finished third in his 4-year-old debut May 21 at Belmont, a 1 1/16-mile allowance race.

Waldorf Racing Stables' Neck 'n Neck is the only Brooklyn entrant with a victory in a 1 1/2-mile race, the 2015 Greenwood Cup (gr. III) at Parx Racing.

Graded stakes-placed Elnaawi, stakes winner Catholic Cowboy, allowance victor Doyouknowsomething, stakes-placed Securitiz, and maiden winner Waymond Boyd complete the field.