BELMONT Park’s feature race as the track reopened last week was the seven-furlong Grade 1 Runhappy Carter Handicap which went to the favourite Vekoma by seven and a quarter lengths.

On a sloppy track, Vekoma took charge entering the straight and left his rivals well behind, winning the seven-furlong race with ease from Network Effect, American Anthem and Firenze Fire.

Dual Grade 1 winner Mind Control, winner of the Hopeful Stakes and H. Allen Jerkens Stakes at Saratoga disappointed in a sixth.

Vekoma, a son of Candy Ride trained by George Weaver, had finished 12th in the Kentucky Derby last year and had been absent until he returned in March with victory in a conditions race at Gulfstream.

“The way he handled the track today was amazing,” Javier Castellano said. “I didn’t have any concern before the race because I rode him in the slop in the Kentucky Derby and he loved it – a mile and a quarter was just too far. He cut back in distance, and we got what we were looking for today.”

Earlier on the card, one of the top three-year-olds of last year, the Travers Stakes and Jockey Club Gold Cup winner Code Of Honor returned to the track with a win over Endorsed in the Grade 3 Westchester Stakes over a mile and half a furlong.

The Shug McGaughey-trained colt, took his time to best his rival but always looked like getting on top on the rain-soaked surface.

“I’m very satisfied. I thought he ran very well. I don’t think (jockey John Velazquez) rode him that hard and he beat a good horse in Endorsed.

“Plus they were way in front of the rest of the field. Hopefully this will move us along to where we want to go,” trainer Shug McGaughey said of the son of Noble Mission.

“I wouldn’t back away from anyone,” McGaughey added. “He carried 124lb, won off a seven-month layoff, on an off track without a lot of pushing, and chased down a nice horse who got an easy lead and didn’t come back to him.”

Next on the agenda for the winner will be either the Runhappy Metropolitan Handicap in July at Belmont Park or the Whitney Stakes at Saratoga a month later.

The meeting also saw a welcome return to form for the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf winner Newspaperofrecord (Lope De Vega) who made all and was an impressive winner of the Grade 3 Intercontinental Stakes over seven furlongs on the turf. Her trainer and jockey Chad Brown and Irad Ortiz completed a graded race double as Instilled Regard (Arch) had earlier justified favouritism in the nine furlong Grade 2 Fort Marcy Stakes.

IT’S not been a good month for potential classic and Kentucky Derby runners as first the Arkansas Derby winner Nadal had to be retired with a condylar fracture. Then Bob Baffert’s other Arkansas Derby division winner Charlatan was also announced as sidelined at the weekend with an ankle injury.

And the bad news continued on Wednesday when Brendan Walsh’s Grade 1 winner Maxfield suffered a non-displaced lateral condylar fracture in training for his next outing in the Bluegrass Stakes in Keeneland. He underwent surgery at the Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital.

“As condylars go, we’re hoping the best for the surgery. We’re hoping he can come back to us at some point,” Walsh said.

Charlatan is expected to be out 45 days and will miss the Belmont Stakes and the Kentucky Derby, but Bob Baffert said a Preakness entry (in early October) is still a possibility.