Sunny Ridge looks to add to stakes total in Belmont's State Dinner

Dennis Drazin's Sunny Ridge, a four-time stakes winner, will be looking to add to that total as part of a field of five in Friday's $100,000 State Dinner for 4-year-olds and up at Belmont Park.

Carded as Race 3 with an approximate post time of 4:10 p.m., the third running of the State Dinner will be contested at 1 1/16 miles on Belmont's main track. 

Sunny Ridge is coming off a third-place effort in the Grade 3 Salvator Mile on May 26 at Monmouth. The Jason Servis trainee made the first stakes appearance of his 5-year-old campaign after ending a 10-month layoff with a runner-up finish in an allowance optional claimer on April 20 at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Last year, Sunny Ridge won back-to-back stakes on the Big A's now-defunct inner track, capturing the Jazil in January 2017 and the Stymie two months later. The Holy Bull gelding then ran sixth in the Grade 2 Charles Town Classic on April 22 of that year before running second to War Story in the Grade 2 Brooklyn on June 10.

Servis gave Sunny Ridge the rest of the year off and the New Jersey homebred spent six months at Mahoney Eden Manor in Saratoga before eventually returning to action this spring.

At 8-5 on the morning line, Sunny Ridge will have the services of meet-leading rider Irad Ortiz, Jr. from post 1.

Woodford Racing's Timeline, who ran third behind Sunny Ridge and the winner Pioneer Spirit on April 20, will run for the second straight time on Big Sandy after winning by 1 ¼ lengths against optional claimers on June 3.

Timeline earned a 97 Beyer Speed Figure for that effort, coming from off the pace and outkicking the runner-up Hoffenheim and 2017 Belmont Stakes winner Tapwrit on a fast track.

Trained by Chad Brown, Timeline has five wins in eight career starts, including consecutive graded stakes victories in his 3-year-old campaign last year in the Grade 3 Peter Pan and the Grade 3 Pegasus before ending his year with a fifth-place finish in the Grade 1 Haskell and seventh in the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby on September 23.

The even-money favorite drew post 3 with Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano aboard.

Bortolazzo Stable's You're To Blame will take a step up in class after his fourth-place finish against optional claimers on June 3 at Belmont. The Distorted Humor colt started his 4-year-old season with a win against optional claimers on February 11 at Gulfstream Park and a third-place performance in the Challenger on March 10 at Tampa Bay Downs.

You're To Blame, trained by Todd Pletcher, is the 7-2 choice from post 4 and will have Hall of Famer John Velazquez in the irons from post 4.

A pair of Nick Zito entries, Frammento and Giuseppe the Great, round out the five-horse field. Giuseppe the Great registered multiple competitive efforts in 2017, running second to American Anthem in the Grade 2 Woody Stephens at Belmont and second to Good Samaritan in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy on July 29 at Saratoga Race Course.

Giuseppe the Great also finished on the board in the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby on September 23 at Parx Racing, posting a third-place effort. After making four straight graded stakes starts, the Lookin At Lucky colt will gain some class relief in drawing post 5 at 8-1 odds. Joel Rosario rides.

Frammento, the 15-1 choice, will be making his first stakes appearance in five starts. He will break from post 2 with Angel Arroyo.