BELMONT Park hosted five graded stakes last Saturday. It’s called the Stars and Stripes Racing Festival. It had plenty of stars. Some predictable, some shocking and none bigger or better than Oscar Performance.

Amerman Racing’s homebred lulled 10 rivals, including Irish raiders Homesman and Whitecliffsofdover, into a 10-furlong procession behind him in the Belmont Derby, a $1.2 million turf stakes race for three-year-olds.

Jose Ortiz crafted the masterpiece, posting steady fractions before coasting a two-length score over Irish-bred Called To The Bar, fresh from France, and Homesman, fresh from Ascot.

Trained by Brian Lynch, Oscar Performance led a no-Lasix exacta with Called To The Bar. Every other horse ran on the anti-bleeding medication.

Oscar Performance won three of four starts, including the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, during his two-year-old season.

Returning in April, he finished fifth in the Transylvania at Keeneland. Lynch added Lasix for a start in the American Turf at Churchill, that was a bust, as Oscar Performance finished last. Sans Lasix, he returned to win the Pennine Ridge in June and added the Belmont Derby in July.

“He’s a big, beautiful horse, long stride, covers the ground, handles everything,” Lynch said. “He proved he can get a mile and a quarter and that was a quality field of horses.”