Top Fortitude, Scott Stevens set for Belmont Day appearances

All eyes turn to Belmont Park for its blockbuster Belmont Day card that includes a 10-stakes roster that will make it the second-richest day of racing in North America in 2014, topped off by a tilt at the Triple Crown by California Chrome.

Competitors with Arizona connections currently slated to appear on the Belmont Day card include Arizona-bred Top Fortitude, recent winner of the Grade 3 Lazaro Barrera at Santa Anita, shipping in to try the Grade 2 Woody Stephens; and Turf Paradise-based jockey Scott Stevens, set to ride Broadway Empire in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap for trainer Robertino Diodoro.

Top Fortitude, a full brother to Grade 2 winner Uh Oh Bango, races for owner and breeder Triple AAA Ranch and trainer Kory Owens. The 3-year-old Top Hit colt is the winner of two of three lifetime starts.

A good fourth, beaten three and a quarter lengths behind Central Banker in the Grade 2 Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby Day, Broadway Empire had won an optional claiming event under Stevens at Turf Paradise in April.