Friday notes / Anybody's Sheepshead Bay

The Met Mile holiday weekend, also known as the Memorial Day weekend, is underway Saturday at Belmont with an uninspiring and paceless renewal of the 11-furlong Sheepshead Bay Handicap, which will be contested on the inner turf course by two fillies and six mares, seven with the same running style and one closer.

Mauralakana, winner of a listed race at Calder in her most recent start, is the morning-line favorite if only because one of these had to be cast in that role. Five others – Hostess, Herboriste, Rising Cross, J’ray and Flawless Treasure – are capable of winning this race if they bring their A game.

Meanwhile …

The Japanese look at things differently. For instance, they find Rick Dutrow’s dismissal of Casino Drive … well, fun.

“He’s done well every day,” said Nobutaka Tada, racing manager for Casino Drive’s owner, Hidetoshi Yamamoto, after a Friday morning canter. “On Sunday, he will go a little faster than usual, and then he will breeze on Wednesday.”

Tada said he and the colt’s connections were enjoying the experience of being involved in the Triple Crown and all the hype that surrounds it. On Wednesday, Dutrow said that if everything goes right, Casino Drive had “no chance” to beat Big Brown in the Belmont despite being the sibling of the last two Belmont Stakes winners, Rags to Riches (2007) and Jazil (2006).

“We are enjoying hearing his comments about Casino Drive,” said Tada. “It’s fun. Big Brown is a great horse, and we are honored to run with him in a great race.”

Big Brown’s contribution to scholarship

A tragedy on Long Island has moved the owners of Big Brown, who are currently quite flush, to donate a portion of the colt’s earnings from the Belmont Stakes to establish a scholarship fund for the young son of a Nassau County police officer who was critically injured in the line of duty.

On May 18, a drunken driver with a suspended license slammed into Kenneth Baribault’s police car during a traffic stop the Long Island Expressway. Baribault had pulled over a sport utility vehicle on suspicion of drunken driving when the driver of a silver Mercedes, whom police said was drunk, plowed into the back of the police cruiser,. The impact pushed the police car into the SUV and lifted it six feet off the ground, according to witnesses.

Baribault remains in a coma at Nassau County Medical Center, having undergone surgery to relieve swelling to his brain.

In a Friday news conference in the Belmont Park paddock, IEAH Stable owners Michael Iavarone and Richard Schiavo, both of Long Island, pledged to donate a substantial portion of whatever Big Brown earns in the final leg of racing’s Triple Crown toward college expenses for Baribault’s six-year-old son, Chris.

“In time like this it is imperative we come together,” said Iavarone. “We want to stand up and make something good happen. It’s not just a financial thing – we want to be there for the family.

Nassau County Executive Thomas R. Souezi and Police Commissioner Lawrence W. Mulvey, both of whom spoke in front of the statue of 1973 Triple Crown winner Secretariat in Belmont Park’s paddock, praised the owners for their generosity.

“We are all pulling for Big Brown in the Belmont here on Long Island, but we are also pulling for Big Blue -- Kenny Baribault,” said Suozzi. “This means the family has one less thing to worry about as he recovers. It’s one less burden in his family’s life.”

Now, for some bad timing

If Big Brown runs at all after the Belmont, the Travers will be his next start, Dutrow said on Wednesday. If Casino Drive wins the Belmont, he will be returned immediately to Japan. Nevertheless, despite the unlikely presence of a winner in the current Triple Crown series at Monmouth Park this summer, the track is offering $25,000 per Triple Crown series win to the owners and trainers involved.

If Big Brown, who has already won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, completes the Triple Crown in the Belmont, his owners and trainer would each receive a $75,000 bonus if the horse runs in the Haskell.

“Obviously you always want to attract horses with Triple Crown races on their resumes,” said Robert J. Kulina, vice president of racing and general manager of Monmouth Park. “The Haskell has stamped itself as the next logical step following the Triple Crown, the beginning of the second half of the season and a target race for horses looking at year-end honors.”

Recent champions that have competed in the Haskell include Point Given, War Emblem, Funny Cide and last year’s Horse of the Year, Curlin. Probably not this time, however.