En Wye Cee may be the speed

If En Wye Cee could show the same speed on turf that he has on dirt, he could be tough to beat in Sunday’s Grade 2, $150,000 Knickerbocker Stakes at Belmont Park.

The 1 1/8-mile Knickerbocker, moved from Monday due to inclement weather, drew only a field of five. None of the five have anything that resembles speed on turf. In his only start over the surface, En Wye Cee rallied from last to finish third, beaten a neck, in a second-level allowance at Saratoga. He was entered to run again on the turf, but the race was rained off to the dirt. En Wye Cee, showing more speed, pressed the early pace and won by six lengths.

“The horse trains really well on both surfaces,” Todd Pletcher, the trainer of En Wye Cee, said. “We didn’t mind when the last one came off; we thought we had a good chance on turf or dirt. We’re just sort of looking to step up and felt like this race made the most sense.”

In regards to En Wye Cee’s one turf start, Pletcher said, “It wasn’t an ideal trip. He showed that he handled it really well.”

En Wye Cee breaks from post 4 under Jose Ortiz.

Breaking the Rules won two straight allowance races after returning from a year layoff prompted by bone bruising. Stepped up into stakes company in the Lure Stakes on closing day at Saratoga, Breaking the Rules finished fourth of five as the 8-5 favorite.

“He acted funny in the paddock that day,” trainer Shug McGaughey said. “He was down on the inside and I never thought he looked comfortable. Maybe I was doing too much with him, so I’ve been trying to spread it out a little bit.”

Breaking the Rules has won twice going 1 1/8 miles at Belmont, overcoming slow paces in both starts. John Velazquez, aboard for Breaking the Rules’s two victories earlier this year but not in the Lure, is back up Sunday.

Trainer Chad Brown sends out the uncoupled entry of Olympico and Devamani. Devamani was third and Olympico fifth in the Lure. Brown added blinkers for both horses in that race. He is taking them off of both for the Knickerbocker.

“I put the blinkers on, they didn’t really respond, so we’ll take them off and regroup on a course they’ve run well on in the past at a distance they should both run well at,” Brown said.

Olympico finished second in last year’s Knickerbocker.

Seismic Wave has one win from his last 11 starts, that coming in the English Channel Stakes here last October. His best finish from five starts this year was a second in the Grade 3 Poker earlier this year.

The Knickerbocker, which shares billing with the Grade 2 Hill Prince for 3-year-olds on turf, is carded as the third race on a 10-race that begins at 12:20 p.m.