BELMONT Timeline loves distance of State Dinner

ELMONT, N.Y. – Had his connections felt he would be effective at 1 1/4 miles, Timeline might have been entered in Saturday’s Grade 2, $700,000 Suburban Stakes at Belmont Park.

But 10 furlongs is probably beyond Timeline’s scope, so on Friday he will run 1 1/16 miles in the $100,000 State Dinner Stakes at Belmont, where he looks to be a standout in a fivehorse field. The State Dinner, which could be used as a prep for the Grade 1 Whitney at 1 1/8 miles at Saratoga on Aug. 4, will go as race 3 on Belmont’s ninerace card, which begins at 3:05 p.m. Eastern.

Last year at age 3, Timeline won his first four starts, including the Grade 3 Peter Pan Stakes here by 3 1/2 lengths. That race was run in the slop, conditions that could be in play Friday if the weather forecast proves accurate.

Timeline, a son of Hard Spun trained by Chad Brown, is coming off a sharp 1 1/4-length victory in a high-class allowance race here on June 3, defeating Tapwrit, the 2017 Belmont Stakes winner who is running in Saturday’s Suburban.

In the June 3 allowance, under Javier Castellano, Timeline received a perfect trip, sitting behind a three-ply speed duel – they ran six furlongs in 1:09.11 – before tipping four wide in the stretch and running down Tapwrit and Hoffenheim.

Timeline has been effective on the lead and he may need to employ those tactics on Friday as there does not appear to be much speed in this field.

Sunny Ridge looms the main threat for trainer Jason Servis, who is 14 for 30 at this meet. Sunny Ridge finished ahead of Timeline in an April 20 allowance race at Aqueduct when those two ran second and third behind Pioneer Spirit.

Most recently, Sunny Ridge finished third, two lengths behind winner Page McKenney, in the Grade 3 Salvator Mile at Monmouth Park. Servis said that Sunny Ridge, under Paco Lopez, was too close to the pace that day.

“That was Paco,” Servis said. “We had talked about that. I did not want him that close.”

Irad Ortiz Jr. rides Sunny Ridge from the rail on Friday.

You’re to Blame, fourth behind Timeline on June 3, and the Nick Zito-trained uncoupled entry of Frammento and Giuseppe the Great complete the field.

KEY CONTENDERS

Timeline, by Hard Spun Last 3 Beyers: 97-95-86

◗ In his June 3 allowance win, he beat Hoffenheim, who came back to win an allowance Saturday at Delaware with a 100 Beyer Speed Figure.

◗ He is 2 for 2 at the distance, at Belmont, and in the slop, with one of those wins coming in the Grade 3 Peter Pan in 2017.

Sunny Ridge, by Holy Bull Last 3 Beyers: 97-96-99

◗ Multiple stakes-winning gelding will likely be chasing Timeline home in the stretch.

◗ In his two starts at Belmont, he finished second in the Grade 1 Champagne at age 2 and second in the Grade 2 Brooklyn last summer.

◗ Picks up leading rider Irad Ortiz Jr.