by Ed DeRosa

Casino Drive, the half brother to Belmont Stakes (G1) winners Jazil and Rags to Riches who won his career debut by 11 1/2 lengths on February 23 at Kyoto in Japan, could target this year’s Belmont Stakes pending a smooth quarantine process.

Nobu Araki, a Versailles, Kentucky, based bloodstock agent, spoke with Nobutaka Tada on Tuesday. The Japan-based Tada, who bought Casino Drive for $950,000 at the 2006 Keeneland September yearling sale, told Araki that owner Hidetoshi Yamamoto has initiated plans with a New York-based shipping company to bring the three-year-old Triple Crown-nominated Mineshaft colt to the United States in late March.

“They really want to bring him over, but influenza has broken out again, so they’re fighting with the quarantine rules,” Araki said Wednesday morning. “[Yamamoto] wants to bring the horse [to the United States]; he thinks the horse can be competitive with American three-year-olds. He’s just a maiden winner, but he’s a good horse, so they’re thinking Belmont.”

Casino Drive is out of the Grade 2-winning Deputy Minister mare Better Than Honour, and all four of her foals to start are winners. She has a two-year-old and yearling by Giant’s Causeway.

Rags to Riches, by A.P. Indy, defeated eventual Horse of the Year and champion three-year-old male Curlin in the Belmont Stakes en route to champion three-year-old filly honors. She is expected to resume racing as a four-year-old. Jazil, by Seeking the Gold, won the Belmont Stakes in 2006 and began his stud career this season at Shadwell Farm.

Ed DeRosa is news editor of Thoroughbred Times