Tommy Macho. NYRA/Coglianese photo

On last year’s Belmont Stakes Day undercard, Paul Pompa Jr.’s Rally Cry ran third in the Easy Goer Stakes. This weekend, the 4-year-old returns to the Belmont undercard—but this time, he steps up to take a shot in the Mohegan Sun Metropolitan Handicap (G1).

“He loves Belmont,” said Pompa of the horse, who is two-for-three at Belmont Park. “I’ve always been high on him, and (trainer) Todd (Pletcher) has, too.”

Rally Cry comes to the Met Mile off a win in an allowance race at Belmont in April, and while Pompa acknowledges the Uncle Mo   colt is taking a big step up, he’s also confident.

“I don’t put horses in a race just to see them run,” he said. “We’ve been targeting this race with this horse. He’s a nice, upcoming horse, and he had a breakthrough number the last time he ran.”

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