Coal Front ending 13-month layoff

Coal Front hasn’t run in 13 months, so another week shouldn’t matter. However, the degree of difficulty for his return increased when he drew the rail for the rescheduled Grade 3, $250,000 Bold Ruler Handicap at seven furlongs.

Originally scheduled for last Saturday on Belmont Park’s card, which was scrapped due to dangerous winds associated with a Nor’easter, the Bold Ruler was rescheduled for Friday’s opening-day card at Aqueduct.

Bad weather is expected again Friday, with a 90 percent chance of rain, but nothing that should impact the card.

Coal Front, as a 3-year-old, won four of five starts including the Grade 2 Amsterdam at Saratoga and the Grade 3 Gallant Bob at Parx. But he came out of that race with a condylar fracture of his right foreleg and needed time off.

Coal Front had been entered twice in races that didn’t fill, so fitness is not as big a concern to trainer Todd Pletcher as is the rail and a potential wet track. Coal Front had post 4 when the race was originally drawn.

“Ideally, you never want to draw the one hole going seveneighths,” Pletcher said Wednesday at Churchill Downs, where he was preparing horses for the Breeders’ Cup.

“He’s a good gate horse; he’ll have to get away and get position. I am looking forward to getting him started again.”

Luis Saez rides Coal Front as John Velazquez, named to ride last week, will be in Kentucky.

True Timber, a 4-year-old son of Mineshaft, has won three of five races this year, all allowances. He missed most of the summer when a fire extinguisher fell on him, cutting his leg.

He returned with a neck victory in a third-level allowance here Sept. 16, running six furlongs in 1:08.65.

“Now it’s time to step up,” trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said. “I always thought seveneighths might have been better than six.”

No Dozing began this year with a sharp allowance win going seven furlongs at Saratoga before running fifth in the Grade 1 Forego and fourth in the Grade 2 Kelso.

“Last time he broke a touch slow and we had to use him,” trainer Arnaud Delacour said. “Maybe the pace scenario going seven-eighths is a little better for him.”

Petrov is 0 for 13 in stakes and 0 for 9 in graded events. He did win an allowance going seven furlongs in Saratoga in August, earning a 99 Beyer Speed Figure.

Delta Prince, beaten a neck in the Grade 1 Fourstardave on turf in August, is returning to dirt for the first time since he finished second in a maiden special weight in November 2016 here. He is a half-brother to champion Royal Delta, a sixtime Grade 1 winner on dirt and an earner of $4.8 million.

“Once he got some more experience we always wanted to try [dirt] again,” trainer Jimmy Jerkens said. “He breezes so well on it, and his half-sister was a champion on it.”

Jerkens is adding blinkers to Delta Prince’s equipment, noting that “he runs kind of spotty.”

“Cutting back to seven he might need to be on the bridle all the way,” he said.