Compliance Officer Fine Tuned for Mohawk

Compliance Officer, winner of the West Point at Saratoga and last month’s Ashley T. Cole at Belmont tuned up Sunday morning for the October 22 Mohawk Stakes with a five-furlong breeze (1:02.77) over Belmont’s firm inner turf course.

“He’s doing excellent,” said Bruce Brown, who trains the 5-year-old Officer gelding for La Marca Stable. “I couldn’t ask him to be doing any better. Because there’s more time in between the [Ashley T. Cole and the Mohawk], I was a little worried about just kind of keeping him peaking at the right time. Alex [Solis] breezes him and he says he’s just as good as ever. He should be coming into that race very good.”

Compliance Officer has won four straight since being claimed by Brown for $25,000 in his 2011 debut, a state-bred, 1 1/16-mile optional claimer at Belmont in May. Following the claim, the gelding won a pair of Belmont turf sprint optional claimers at six and seven furlongs, then took Saratoga Race Course’s 1 1/16-mile West Point on August 18 for the first stakes victory of his career en route to the Ashley T. Cole on September 11. Brown added that Compliance Officer likely would run once more in 2011 after the Mohawk, shipping to Fair Grounds Race Course for the 2011 Claiming Crown’s $100,000 Emerald Stakes on December 3.

“This year I’m going to have more action than usual [on Showcase Day],” noted Brown. “I’ll probably have Compliance Officer for the turf, Green Monster for the Empire Classic and then Dr Disco for the [Hudson]. I have some maidens to run that day, too.”

Both Green Monster and Dr Disco are recent allowance winners for Brown.