Belmont decision awaits after Maxfield 'answered the bell'

A week after Maxfield’s comeback victory in Churchill Downs’ Matt Winn Stakes (G3), the head of breeder/owner Godolphin’s U.S. operations says a decision’s pending as to his next race.

Will it be the June 20 Belmont Stakes, or the July 11 Blue Grass Stakes (G2)? The latter leads a newly scheduled five-day summer meet at Keeneland, where the Street Sense colt has returned to training with Brendan Walsh.

“We’re taking it a day at a time and certainly want to give Brendan every opportunity to assess how he came out of his race,” said Jimmy Bell, president of Darley America. “We’re enjoying the opportunity to have time on our side to make those decisions. We’re under no pressure time-wise.”

Bell guessed that connections will next week make the call with both potential targets measuring 1 1/8 miles.

The Belmont comes up faster and will consist of a classier field even with the defection of unbeaten Bob Baffert trainee Nadal, who was found to be injured after a workout earlier this week. Tiz the Law and Charlatan are now the ones to beat.

Maxfield, meanwhile, would be the likely Blue Grass favorite if he stays home against horses such as Louisiana Derby (G2) winner Wells Bayou and Basin, a Grade 1 winner during his juvenile campaign.

In the Matt Winn, which also awarded Maxfield 50 qualifying points toward the Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby, the colt improved to 3-for-3, coming off the pace for a length win over Ny Traffic in his first start since Keeneland’s Breeders’ Futurity (G1) last October.

“We’re just so excited to see him back in action,” Bell said. “That was some pretty good time off, as you know, and there were a lot of things — the transition from 2 to 3 and some minor surgery — that add up. He answered the bell for sure.”