Dancing Forever, third in an allowance in his 2009 debut on May 31, is heading into the Grade 1, $500,000 Man o’ War on July 11 at Belmont Park in good order as Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey contemplates a schedule that will bring the 6-year-old horse back to the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita.

“I thought he ran good the other day,” said McGaughey. “He was always a big horse and it took him a while to get things together in his career. He had a break over the winter, and whatever bumps and bruises he had, had a chance to go away.”

Last year was a breakthrough year for the big chestnut son of Rahy, who won the Grade 1 Manhattan Handicap and the Grade 2 Elkhorn at Keeneland in addition to finishing second to Einstein in the Grade 1 Gulfstream Park Turf. He was fifth over a good course in the Grade 1 Sword Dancer at Saratoga, and seventh over a yielding course in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational at Belmont Park before finishing third at Santa Anita.

“I made the mistake of running on soft turf a couple times last year, and I won’t make that mistake again heading into the [Nov. 7] Breeders’ Cup,” said McGaughey. “Hopefully, it will quit raining.”

Other probable starters for the 1 3/8th mile Man o’War are Chinchon (IRE), Gio Ponti, Grand Couturier, Marsh Side, Midships, Quijano (GER) and Thewayyourare.

Better Talk Now, who is entered in Saturday’s Grade 1 United Nations Stakes at Monmouth, is questionable.

Gio Ponti, who rallied from last under Garrett Gomez to win the Grade 1 Manhattan over a yielding course on Belmont Stakes Day, Saturday, June 6, will be reunited with Belmont Park’s leading rider, Ramon Dominguez, for the Man o’ War, said trainer Christophe Clement.

“I spoke with his owners [Castleton Lyons Farm] this morning and he will go in the Man o’ War with Dominguez,” said Clement of Gio Ponti, who won the Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Handicap with Dominguez aboard on March 7. “[Another option] was the United Nations, but it is nice in the summer not to ship too much, and nice to win in New York.”

Gio Ponti, a four-year-old son of Tale of the Cat who was fifth in the Grade 2 Strub over Polytrack in his first start of the year, has won seven of his 12 lifetime starts for more than $1.2 million.

“He’s a very good horse, very consistent,” said Clement. “He won the Manhattan and the [2008] Hill Prince, so he likes Belmont Park. If the ground gets firmer he should get a mile and three-eighths.”

The next objective for Gio Ponti would be the Grade 1 Arlington Million on Saturday, Aug. 8.

“The sequence of the Manhattan, the Man o’ War and the Arlington Million fits nicely,” said Clement.

The trainer added that Sal the Barber, an impressive 4½-length winner of the overnight Don Jack Stakes for 3-year-olds going nine furlongs on the turf on Wednesday, would be pointed toward a graded stakes, either the Grade 2, $150,000 Hall of Fame at Saratoga Race Course or the Grade 1, $400,000 Secretariat at Arlington Park on Aug. 8.

“He’s always trained like a nice horse and acted like a nice horse, but he was impressive the other day,” said Clement.

To say Mark Keller’s Grand Couturier has been good to trainer Bobby Ribaudo is something of an understatement. Ribaudo scored his first three career Grade 1 stakes victories with the now six-year-old son of Grand Lodge: the 2007 Sword Dancer Invitational at Saratoga Race Course, the 2008 Sword Dancer, and the 2008 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational at Belmont Park.

Looking ahead to an unprecedented three-peat in the Sword Dancer, Grand Couturier will be making his second start of 2009 in the Man o’ War, having finished fifth in the Monmouth Stakes to Presious Passion on June 13.

“We had wanted the Man o’ War to be his third start instead of his second, but we got a little backed up with the weather,” said Ribaudo. “Hopefully we will have confidence going into the Sword Dancer, which is the ultimate objective. Actually, he’s run in it three straight years [third in 2006] and for him to get to the same race four years in a row is pretty amazing.”

The 58-year-old trainer notched his fourth Grade 1 victory on Memorial Day when Bribon took the Shadwell Metropolitan Handicap.

“He’s found a niche [with a one-turn mile] but there’s nothing that suits him right now,” said Ribaudo. “We might wind up back on the grass, because we’re not sure that his transition to a major horse was because of the dirt, having him gelded, maturity, or a combination of all those things.”

Edward P. Evans’ Grade 1 Florida Derby winner Quality Road has been galloping steadily for new trainer Todd Pletcher and is on the verge of breezing as his connections look toward a possible start in the Grade 2, $500,000 Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga Race Course on Aug. 1.

“He’s fairly close to a breeze, probably some time in the next week or so,” said Pletcher. “We’ve been working around a rain schedule, and he should be ready with a few more gallops on a good track.”

Quality Road was an early favorite for the May 2 Kentucky Derby while under the care of Jimmy Jerkens, but developed a quarter crack in his right front foot just before the race. He returned to the worktab on June 8, breezing three furlongs in 38.83, and was transferred from Jerkens to Pletcher the following week.

Another three-year-old who made a bit of a splash at Aqueduct Racetrack earlier this year is also about to resume breezing. Turtle Bird Stable’s Haynesfield, who won the Count Fleet and Whirlaway Stakes before finishing eighth in his last start, the Grade 3 Gotham to I Want Revenge, has been training well at Belmont Park.

“He’s getting ready for a breeze and looking toward a fall campaign,” said Toby Sheets, trainer Steve Asmussen’s New York assistant.

The New York-bred son of Speightstown has a record of 4-0-1 from six starts for earnings of $191,131.