Friday TimeformUS Highlight Horse: West Coast invader Dancing Rinca due for better trip
Belmont at the Big A | Race 5 | Post Time 3:05 p.m. (ET)
Three of the main players in this first-level allowance exit the Sep. 1 Saratoga race at this same level. That was arguably a tougher spot than this one, so Final Verdict (#7) deserves some credit for running as well as he did, beaten only a length in third. He did get a good trip, stalking outside in the clear over a Mellon turf course that was favoring outside paths on closing weekend. However, this horse has generally been in strong form since switching to the turf. He was much the best against starter-allowance company two back, surviving a contested pace to hold off some decent closers. He looks like a deserving favorite, but I’m not running to take 2-1 on a horse who has been generous prices in most of his recent starts.
Mike Maker sends out the two others exiting that Sep. 1 affair. Alexis Zorba (#8) didn’t get the right trip that day, as he was off a step slowly and always out of position. He does his best running when he can be forwardly placed and was never going to be effective trying to close from far back. I just wish I liked his prior form a bit better. He really didn’t have much of an excuse to lose going a mile two back, and he has tallied six second-place finishes in 13 career starts.
The other Maker runner, Cigarette Boat (#4), is a little more appealing. Unlike Final Verdict, he was racing on the inside part of the Mellon turf course, which was not the place to be over the last few days of the Saratoga meet. He tired after contesting the pace, but I think his trip had much to do with that. He had been in excellent form prior to that and was just barely run down by the talented rivals Twenty Six Black and Mansa Musa in his preceding starts. He also possesses a more versatile running style than his stablemate and may be just as quick early.
My top pick is the new face from California. Dancing Rinca (#2) is another who doesn’t exactly have a history of piling up the wins, going 1 for 17 so far in his career. However, he does sport strong recent form in California for Neil Drysdale. He ran well off the layoff at this level down the hill at Santa Anita in June despite racing wide throughout. He then had to swing very wide at the top of the lane going five furlongs at Del Mar, a distance that is likely too short for him anyway. Drysdale shipped him to Kentucky Downs last time, and he again had no chance to get anywhere near the rail. That race unfolded strangely as no one was particularly intent on the lead with five or six runners lined up across the track. Dancing Rinca was legitimately six wide on the far turn and still was finishing best of all to get up for second. That field might not have been the strongest, but he kept very strong company in that Del Mar race in July, from which multiple horses have returned to improve their speed figures.