Tri-Bone Stables's Effinex (Mineshaft) seeks his third-straight victory while he faces a full field in Belmont's GII Brooklyn Invitational S. Saturday. An upset winner of the Empire Classic for New York-breds here Oct. 18, the then-3-year-old finished fourth in both the Hawthorne Gold Cup H. in November and restricted Alex M. Robb S. over the Big A inner on New Year's Eve. He returned to annex a muddy optional claimer over the likes of next-out 12 1/2-length romper Coach Inge (Big Brown) in Ozone Park Mar. 27, and picked up the slack for trainer Jimmy Jerkens when heavy favorite and GI Metropolitan H. entrant Wicked Strong (Hard Spun) could only manage third in Aqueduct's 10-panel GIII Excelsior S. Apr. 25. The dark bay earned a career-best 107 Beyer Speed Figure for that effort, and was followed home by Micromanage (Medaglia d'Oro and Turco Bravo (Chi) (Ceasarion {Ire}). Jerkens also sends out last year's GI Travers S. upsetterV. E. Day (English Channel), who has finished off the board in his three most recent outings. Moved up to fifth in this venue's GI Jockey Club Gold Cup Sept. 27, he was 11th in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic, and a late-on-the-scene sixth off the bench in the grassy GIII Fort Marcy S. here May 2. Before Victor Espinoza pilots American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile) in the GI Belmont S., he'll get reacquainted with this 1 1/2-mile trip aboard the Bob Baffert-trained Sky Kingdom(Empire Maker). The bay is a two-time graded stakes winner at the distance, having annexed the 2013 and 2015 renewals of Santa Anita's GIII Tokyo City S., the most recent of which took place Mar. 28.
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