A decent-sized pick six carryover requires some attention. And just two maiden races in the sequence (races 5, 8) mean you’re looking mostly at familiar faces, as opposed to dealing with a ton of firsters where you’re often grasping at straws.
It’s New York-bred Day, with seven statebred races – including two stallion stakes on turf – and two claimers making up the nine-race card. I don’t love any single horse on this card, but I like a couple of races, and despite the presence of a couple of very difficult races in both sequences, the early and late pick fours might be manageable. There are several nine-furlong races on the card, which to me is a good thing. Let’s start from the top and go through it.
Trip Notes for August 2-3: Vanderbilt, Test, Whitney, West Virginia Derby and more by Michael Hammersly.
Monmouth Park-based trainer Russell Cash ships in with contenders in both divisions of Monday’s $100,000 New York Stallion Series scheduled for one mile on the inner turf.
Phil’s Dream, Canada’s reigning champion sprinter, is the worthy 4-5 morning line favorite in the $125,000 Shepperton Stakes, and he will be a single on numerous late pick four tickets.
Let’s go with a pick three encompassing races 3 through 5.
In the wake of several scratches in race 4, notably Lubash, who will train up to the West Point Stakes on Aug. 24, Lubash’s arch-nemesis, Kharafa, is the logical choice.
Other than a pair of 2-year-old races, the Sunday card is soft. That is an unfortunate byproduct of the cancellation of turf racing until next weekend.
Sunday is the final day of week three at no-turf-racing Del Mar, where inside speed reigned supreme Saturday. Blame the rain. The Sunday card includes two interesting sprints for 2-year-olds – a maiden race and a graded stakes.
