Q. If 7 of 9 races on a card are run faster than average, the track surface will be considered very fast. But isn't it possible that the horses happened to be of higher quality on that day?
Assuming that racing will remain on turf Saturday at Belmont Park, I’ll be taking a run at the early pick four with a straightforward (and inexpensive) ticket using a couple of singles in the final two legs. Here’s the layout:
TimeformUS handicapper David Aragona highlights some contenders on Friday's card at Belmont.
Justify may have won the Kentucky Derby last year, but it was Instilled Regard who won the hearts of bettors fortunate enough to cash on the Derby superfecta. His rally to grab fourth at odds of 85-1 behind popular choices Justify, Good Magic, and Audible led to a $19,618.20 payoff for a $1 wager, exponentially higher than the $141.40 trifecta mutuel for a $1 bet.
Not surprisingly, the national stakes schedule on the Saturday before the Kentucky Derby is a light one. The richest race of the day is the Grade 3, $250,000 San Francisco Mile at Golden Gate Fields. The highest graded stakes of the day – in fact, the only other graded race of the day – is the Grade 2, $200,000 Santa Margarita at Santa Anita.
Trip notes by Michael Hammersly for stakes races run on April 20-21.
Brad Free previews the Santa Anita card for Saturday, April 20.
David Aragona's TimeformUS Highlight Horse for Saturday, April 20 at Aqueduct.
Laurel Park has a very interesting card on Saturday featuring several stakes, including the Federico Tesio, a traditional Preakness prep. That's the 10th race on the card and the third leg of the late pick four. Here's one way to play that sequence (races 8-11):
King: Keeneland pick five play for Saturday, April 20
