Litfin's preview: Frontrunning upsets lead to pick six carryover

Carryover in the pick six

Thanks to frontrunning upsets Saturday by Cay to Pomeroy ($25) and Vicksburg Bluffs ($81.50), a pick six carryover of $19,394 awaits bettors for Sunday’s nine-race card. The sequence begins with race 4 at 2:53 p.m. Eastern.

Havana returns

Unfortunately for those looking for a free bingo square in the pick six, the 1-5 entry of Havana and The Admiral in the $100,000 Gold Fever Stakes is race 3.

Havana would have been the favorite in the March 1 Swale but was scratched the morning of the race due to a quarter crack. All systems appear to be “go” now for the Champagne winner and Breeders’ Cup runner-up, whose first major goal of the season for Todd Pletcher is the Grade 2, $500,000 Woody Stephens Stakes on June 7.

“I’ve seen a steady progression in his breezes – they’ve been getting better and better,” said assistant trainer Byron Hughes.

Havana, who would have been odds-on on his own, is coupled with The Admiral, a Bob Baffert-trained colt who was beaten a length in last month’s Bay Shore Stakes after racing close to a demanding pace throughout.

Micromanage tops Drosselmeyer

Pletcher also has morning line favorite Micromanage in the $100,000 Drosselmeyer Stakes (race 8), a 10-furlong stepping stone to the Grade 2, $500,000 Brooklyn Invitational on June 7.

Micromanage comes off a breakthrough performance to win the Skip Away by better than four lengths with blinkers on, for which he earned a new top Beyer Speed Figure of 103.

“He seemed to really benefit from them – he was a lot more focused,” Hughes observed. “If he puts in the same effort he did last time, he can absolutely compete with some of the top older horses.”

The race also attracted the one-two finishers from the recent H.E. Johnson Memorial Stakes at Laurel Park, Ground Transport and Mr Palmer.

Mr Palmer, who chased Ground Transport from gate to wire last time, is trained by Bill Mott, who of course developed the race’s namesake to win the Belmont Stakes at 3 and the Breeders’ Cup Classic the following year.