Tu Brutus Brings Hype Into Brooklyn

There is not usually a ton of buzz that comes out of 1 3/8-mile black-type stakes on the dirt. It is far from the norm, however, for such outings to yield the kind of result Tu Brutus put up in his second North American start.

Geared down in the final strides after having his own way on the front end, the 5-year-old son of Scat Daddy made a monster of an impression over the Belmont Park | BloodHorse.com Track Profile">Belmont Park oval May 7, when he won the Flat Out Stakes by 11 lengths. Should the Gary Contessa-trained horse come anywhere close to duplicating that outing, it could be an exceptionally long 12-furlong journey for his seven challengers in the $400,000 Brooklyn Invitational Stakes (G2) June 10.

After 17 starts in his native Chile, Tu Brutus made his stateside debut in the grade 3 Excelsior Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack April 8, when he earned a second-place finish after setting the pace in his first race since December. His combination of a high cruising speed and stamina had Contessa eager to try his new charge in tougher company after his one-man show in the Flat Out.

"This is a horse that has no bottom. He just keeps getting deeper and deeper," Contessa said after the Flat Out. "He takes a deep breath and starts all over again. You never know competition he's facing in Chile, but the best thing about this horse is that he's won stakes running clockwise and counterclockwise. He does it all. He's just a cool horse to be around."

Among the challengers Tu Brutus will have to fend off in the Brooklyn is Todd Pletcher-trainee Send It In, who bested the former in the Excelsior. The Excelsior was the first graded win for the 5-year-old Big Brown   gelding, who has not finished worse than third in his last 12 starts.

Dennis Drazin's graded stakes winner Sunny Ridge most recently finished sixth in the April 22 Charles Town Classic (G2) after opening his 2017 campaign with back-to-back wins in the Jazil Stakes and Stymie Stakes. Veteran runner War Story, winner of the Queens County Stakes in December, is coming out of the Charles Town Classic, where he posted a third-place finish.

Brooklyn Invitational S. (G2)

Belmont Park, Saturday, June 10, 2017, Race 3

• 1 1/2m
• Dirt
• $400,000
• 4 yo's & up
• 12:39 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Governor Malibu (NY)	Jose L. Ortiz	115	Christophe Clement	8/1
2	2Idolo Porteno (ARG)	Florent Geroux	115	Ignacio Correas, IV	20/1
3	3Sunny Ridge (NJ)	Manuel Franco	119	Jason Servis	10/1
4	4Send It In (NY)	John R. Velazquez	119	Todd A. Pletcher	7/5
5	5Tu Brutus (CHI)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	117	Gary C. Contessa	2/1
6	6Doyouknowsomething (KY)	Angel S. Arroyo	115	A. C. Avila	15/1
7	7War Story (KY)	Javier Castellano	115	Jorge Navarro	6/1
8	8Behesht (FR)	Corey J. Lanerie	115	George R. Arnold, II	30/1