As for Friday’s Belmont Gold Cup, while I can certainly see Taghleeb winning, for me the race is really all about the European shippers. Six of the 13 entered are Euro invaders, and rather than split the wood amongst them, I’ll use them all, and then press three of them.
Irish War Cry is a horse that is very good at his best – he has twice won graded stakes this year with matching 101 Beyer Speed Figures – and very bad when he is not, as reflected by a loss of 21 lengths in the Fountain of Youth to go along with his Kentucky Derby thumping. But if he runs his race, the Belmont is his race for the taking.
The withdrawal of standout Classic Empire has turned the Belmont Stakes into a scramble. Perhaps, it would have been chaotic anyway. After all, seven of the last nine Belmont winners paid more than $20. Bettors shopping for a price will find plenty of choices, including an improving colt whose form might be better than it appears.
For horseplayers, the unfortunate news Wednesday morning that Classic Empire would be forced to miss Saturday's Belmont Stakes due to a foot abscess cut two ways.
Brad Free's horses to watch at Santa Anita for the week of June 7.
Sometimes it takes a while for a good day to develop. You can put a plan in place but if the horses you like are getting bet more aggressively than anticipated, you need to either figure out a logical exotic wager or pass the race. If you do wager at the borderline of fair odds and the win odds drop, all you can do is slap your forehead in frustration, knowing that you wouldn’t have played the horse at the lower price. If you are lucky, the horse wins and at least you cash. If it doesn’t win, you walk away muttering under your breath. This seems to happen to me every week.
Each week, TimeformUS Chief Figure Maker Craig Milkowski takes a look back at the weekend’s graded stakes and releases the TimeformUS Speed Figures for these races.
Gierkink: Woodbine horses to watch for week of June 5
Trip Notes by Michael Hammersly for races run on June 4-5, including the Beholder Mile, Shoemaker Mile, Penn Mile, and more.
TimeformUS handicapper David Aragona highlights some contenders on Sunday’s card at Belmont.
