Litfin's preview: Two-day doubles on tap

Friday, June 6, preview

TWO-DAY DOUBLES ON TAP

With the repositioning of many stakes races at the meet, bettors can leverage themselves with gusto if they have strong opinions on today’s True North and/or Belmont Gold Cup Invitational.

Carded as the last two races on Friday’s 10-race program, the True North and the inaugural edition of the Gold Cup can be combined in a conventional late daily double and also are the first legs in a pair of Friday-Saturday double wagers. The True North is linked with the Met Mile. The Gold Cup and Belmont Stakes double will be decided over a combined 3 1/2 miles.

FIRM ENOUGH FOR TWILIGHT ECLIPSE?

The rain Thursday didn’t help the chances of Twilight Eclipse in the two-mile Gold Cup, a three-turn race that begins late on the backstretch of the Widener turf course, which, at 1 5/16 miles around, is among the largest in North America.

Twilight Eclipse, the 9-5 morning-line choice, likes to hear his feet rattle, as evidenced by a world-record clocking of 2:22.63 for 1 1/2 miles in last year’s Pan American. That performance was sandwiched between a fourth on “good” turf and a distant fifth on yielding ground.

Although it’s fair to wonder what 30-1 longshot Spy in the Sky has left after being pulled up in his 10-year-old debut over the jumps at Middleburg, the gelding has a history of springing surprises in New York. In addition to taking three steeplechase stakes at Saratoga at prices of $52, $43, and $14.40, he won a 1 3/8-mile flat race on turf at Aqueduct at $22.40 back in 2009.