Litfiin: Belmont pick four play for Sunday, May 3
Let’s close out opening week at Belmont Park on Sunday with a late pick four play on an intriguing sequence that begins with race 6.
Dave LitfinMay 03, 2015
Let’s close out opening week at Belmont Park on Sunday with a late pick four play on an intriguing sequence that begins with race 6.
American Pharoah, Firing Line, and Dortmund, the first three finishers in the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, are being pointed to the second leg of the Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on May 16, their trainers said Sunday morning at Churchill Downs.
American Pharoah was best winning the Kentucky Derby, and he deserves all the credit he is receiving. But while I am well aware he has the speed and the talent to get a perfect trip every time he races, it must be said that American Pharoah had yet another perfect trip Saturday. He stalked a deliberate pace, moved at a point when it was ideal for him to move, and out-finished a gutsy Firing Line. It was all pretty simple. And now, that’s five straight stakes victories for American Pharoah after five straight perfect trips.
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In a thrilling stretch run, Reflector charged from last to first to capture Saturday night’s $60,000 Need For Speed Stakes at Evangeline Downs, kicking down the 6-5 favorite Quick Dagger in the final strides.
Catch a Flight gave Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella the 2,000th win of his career in Saturday’s $100,750 Precisionist Stakes at Santa Anita, and, in doing so, confirmed his status as a contender for the $500,000 Gold Cup at Santa Anita on June 27.
This year’s Kentucky Derby broke a record for attendance, while the preliminary Derby handle figure, according to the chart, was equal to the previous record for the race, set in 2012. Because the preliminary handle figure does not include separate-pool handle overseas, the final betting figure for the Derby almost certainly will set a record.
Three times before for owner Ahmed Zayat, his Kentucky Derby dream ended in the long homestretch at Churchill Downs. On Saturday, he didn’t awaken until he got to the finish line. Second in three previous Derbies, all since 2009, Zayat finally got a chance to experience what he had dreamt about, as American Pharoah lived up to his favoritism by capturing the 141st Derby before a record crowd of 170,513 on a warm, sunny day beneath the storied twin spires.
Trainer Simon Callaghan stood in the middle of the Churchill Downs racetrack calmly talking to a handful of reporters just minutes after his first Kentucky Derby starter, Firing Line, had suffered a heartbreaking defeat at the hands of the favorite American Pharoah, and the rookie handled himself like a guy who’d done this sort of thing a dozen times before.
The horses for the 141st Kentucky Derby had left the paddock and were on their way to the track. Bob Baffert stayed behind and walked around, a bundle of nervous energy. The song “My Old Kentucky Home” came over the loudspeaker.