Belmont: DRF Plus handicapping report for May 11, 2014
DRF Plus handicapping analysis for Belmont Park on Sunday, May 11.
DRF StaffMay 10, 2014
DRF Plus handicapping analysis for Belmont Park on Sunday, May 11.
DRF Plus closer looks for Santa Anita on Sunday, May 11.
DRF Plus closer looks for Churchill Downs on Sunday, May 11.
The $150,000 Fury Stakes should be the final tuneup for several horses eyeing the June 15 Woodbine Oaks, and the seven-furlong test for Canadian-bred 3-year-old fillies was once a highly successful Oaks prep.
Llanarmon stamped herself as a contender for the June 15 Woodbine Oaks with a nifty first-level allowance score in the third.
Slow surface speed does not necessarily create a bias, and a series of frontrunning winners does not necessarily mean the track is speed biased. However, bias is always open to interpretation, and some could quarrel with the recent “bias-free” assessment.
Although the main track was “fast,” it played extremely slow Friday. Final times were off by several lengths. No problem, the results all made sense.
The Grade 2, $200,000 is there for the taking. The seven entrants are 0 for 6 in graded stakes, including the maiden Irish You Well’s third in the Illinois Derby, and Our Caravan’s upset of Ring Weekend in the Calder Derby is the group’s only collective stakes victory.
The main track was sloppy to start out and “upgraded” to muddy for the last two races of the day. As was the case Thursday, the best footing was off the rail, anywhere from the two path to farther out, and there were no apparent trends in terms of effective running style.
Steady rain that began Friday evening and continued into Saturday morning resulted in the scheduled turf races – the fifth, seventh, and ninth – being moved to the main track.