There will not be a mandatory payout on the Jackpot Hi 5 on Sunday’s Woodbine Mile card. Expect that to happen on Canadian International Day, Oct. 19, assuming that the tricky wager continues to carry over in the interim.
Trip Notes for Sept. 6: Ack Ack, Iroquois, Pocahontas, Super Derby and more by Michael Hammersly.
Although there are only four dirt races Sunday at Belmont, I’m paying especially close attention to the first race to see whether the off-the-pace trend that was apparent Friday and Saturday remains in place.
More standard racing fare is the order of the day Sunday at Churchill following a Saturday card on which four stakes were contested. The deepest races Sunday, both of which drew overflow fields, are the seventh and ninth.
Conquest Typhoon is the 7-5 morning-line favorite in the $125,000 Swynford Stakes off back-to-back seconds in the Clarendon Stakes and a quality maiden special weight race. Trainer Mark Casse also entered maiden winner Conquest Boogaloo (4-1) but probably won’t run both horses in the seven-furlong sprint for 2-year-olds.
The $100,000 co-featured stakes are early on Sunday’s card, with the Sky Beauty (third race) and the Real Courage (fourth) right in the middle of the early pick four and the pick five.
As on most Saturdays at Belmont this fall, there is a $300,000-guaranteed pool for the late pick four. All four races in today’s sequence (races 7-10) are scheduled for turf, and there is a 50-50 chance of thunderstorms developing in the afternoon. We’re assuming everything remains on the grass. Otherwise, all bets are off.
After a ho-hum start to the meet Friday, with short fields and low-quality racing, Churchill Downs has an exciting four-stakes card on tap for Saturday, with the two stakes for 2-year-olds, the Iroquois and Pocahontas, being particularly good betting races.
Kentucky Downs opens Saturday with three stakes offering a total of $650,000 in purses for Kentucky-breds, and something horseplayers will appreciate – a 50-cent pick three linking the three stakes together. Here’s my strategy for playing the modest wager, beginning with the first leg, The Kentucky Downs Juvenile.
The Jackpot Hi 5 carryover heading into Saturday’s nightcap is $354,672. Don’t be surprised if there’s a mandatory payout on the tricky wager on Woodbine Mile Day on Sept. 14.
