ALBERT THE GREAT is giving significant weight to his opposition and moves away from his favorite venue, Belmont Park. The bay colt loves those sweeping turns, and jockey Jorge Chavez has kept him far off the rail in all five starts this year. That running style translated into two impressive victories this summer, but Albert the Great was beaten at Pimlico and Gulfstream Park earlier this year. He's 2-for-11 away from Belmont and ran poorly when seventh at the Spa last summer in the 1 1/8-mile Jim Dandy. Albert the Great has worked well for this start and is the class of the field, but he'll to overcome the outside post and will likely continue to spot serious ground to his rivals off the rail. The Nick Zito trainee looks vulnerable away from Belmont.<P>PERFECT CAT has displayed good form for trainer Mark Hennig this season against lesser company. He didn't offer much last out in the Suburban.<P><BR>PLEASANT BREEZE is fond of this oval (8-4-3-0) and has run well this year despite going winless from four outs. The six-year-old notched a 110 Speed rating for his narrow runner-up finish in the Gulfstream Park H. and has received a nice freshening for this event from trainer James Bond. Pleasant Breeze was an impressive wire-to-wire winner in both starts at Saratoga last year and could show speed once again. <P>LIDO PALACE has run two strong races on the main track this year for Bobby Frankel, finishing second behind a loose-on-the-lead winner in the Hawthorne Gold Cup H. in his U.S. debut and second behind Albert the Great in Suburban H. Jockey David Flores had the colt on the inside part of the track, which was much deeper, into the stretch of the Suburban and Lido Palace went very gamely to the wire to hold second from Include. The chestnut gets a jockey upgrade to Jerry Bailey.<P>UNSHADED has trained forwardly for trainer Carl Nafzger since finishing a dull fifth in the Suburban. His best career performance came in the Travers, and the four-year-old gelding did run well when capturing an allowance in his seasonal debut three races back. Unshaded doesn't have much win appeal off his last two starts, but he could run late for part. <P>GANDER is a horse for the course with a 5-3-0-1 mark in upstate New York. The gray gelding exits a respectable second behind Hap on the turf last out and moves back to the main track where he's had all of his success. The New York-bred has earned Speed figures less than 100 in four of his last five dirt starts and most of his rivals are capable of better. <P>ELITE MERCEDES doesn't look sharp enough to be a factor. He's also winless from three previous starts at nine furlongs and probably wants less ground. <P>This race has a lot of intrigue, I really dont think Albert the Great will win it today but will be the favorite.<P>Lido Place should be the factor here in this race... Look for the upset !!!
