Q F Seventy Five, named for a flight number from Vancouver to Sydney, Australia, took the express lane to victory on opening day at Belmont Park on Thursday.

Piloted by Manny Franco, the 5-year-old gelding took command early and kicked away powerfully at the top of the lane for a comfortable win on the turf in his first start since last summer.

Christoph Clement trains the son of Vancouver, a sire who was bred and raced in Australia and spent time in Kentucky as a shuttle stallion.

Q F Seventy Five now owns two wins, a second and three thirds from nine career starts for West Point and co-owner NBS Stable. He was acquired at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale of two-year-olds in training.

Christophe and West Point will be well represented on the turf at Belmont this weekend, with Atomic Blonde aiming for Friday’s Grade 2 Sheepshead Bay for fillies and mares going a mile and three-eighths, and Voodoo Zip tackling Saturday’s $150,000 Elusive Quality Stakes. On Sunday, Fortineno will return in a 7-furlong allowance.

Replay of Q F Seventy Five’s win: