Here's three for your pick 6

ELMONT, N.Y. - An interesting pair of allowance races, which are part of the pick six, add spice to Thursday's nine-race card at Belmont Park.

The sixth race, worth $50,000, is the 2002 debut for Ransom's Pride, last year's champion 3-year-old filly and turf female among New York-breds. Among Ransom's Pride's five rivals in the third-level allowance is Real Cozzy, who is back on dirt after losing her grass debut earlier this month.

The eighth race feature, which has a $52,000 pot, is the second start off a 10-month layoff for Rob's Spirit, who in 2000 won the Grade 3 Lexington here and the Grade 3 Saranac at Saratoga.

Ransom's Pride, who is trained by Mike Hernandez, hasn't run since finishing seventh in the Grade 2 Mrs. Revere Stakes at Churchill in November. Despite that effort, her first in an open stakes, Ransom's Pride had a terrific campaign last year, winning four of seven starts.

Among Ransom's Pride's wins in 2001 were narrow victories in the Yaddo and Ticonderoga, both restricted grass stakes. But don't peg Ransom's Pride as a turf horse because she might be better on the dirt. She is 3 for 4 on Belmont's main track. One of her dirt wins, a 14-length romp, came at a mile, the distance of the race she goes in on Thursday.

Jose Santos rides Ransom's Pride, who has won off a longer layoff than she faces here. Ransom's Pride drew post 5 and is a likely pace factor, along with Laurie's Balada, in a race that lacks serious speed.

Real Cozzy, trained by Danny Peitz, returns to her preferred surface after an eighth in her 2002 and turf debut on May 10. If Real Cozzy returns to the form she had last year, when she finished second in the Grade 1 Mother Goose and third in the Grade 1 Acorn at Belmont, she will be tough.

Robbie Davis rides Real Cozzy, who drew post 4.

Rob's Spirit is the likely favorite in the feature, a fourth-level allowance with six turf horses, plus Yankee Doodle Boy, who is entered main-track only. The distance is 1 1/8 miles on the inner turf.

Rob's Spirit, a 5-year-old, has hot connections on his side in trainer Bill Mott and jockey Jerry Bailey.

Rob's Spirit finished third as the favorite in an optional claimer at Gulfstream on March 29, his first start since May 2001. Rob's Spirit figures to improve with a race under his belt.

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