Saturday TimeformUS Highlight Horse: Cuando capable of better second time on turf

Belmont at the Big A | Race 6 | Post Time 3:08 p.m. (ET)

Likely favorite Unit Economics (#2) was unlucky on debut when getting off to a poor start and veering out at the quarter pole. He did close strongly in a race that didn’t feature much early pace, but just ran out of ground. However, he has now been bet heavily in two starts since then, just missing on both occasions. He lost a heartbreaker last time when making up a ton of ground in the stretch before losing by a nose. I find it strange that Chad Brown now adds blinkers off that effort for a horse who already has shown a tendency to get a little keen early in his races. If he finally breaks better, he could get forward position, but that’s no guarantee in this field. He’s the one to beat, but I don’t see much value here.

I much prefer him to the other Chad Brown runner Kick a Buck (#3), who didn’t run very well at a short price last time and is now stepping up against a tougher field.

I am more interested in another lightly raced runner. Final Edition (#9) debuted sprinting on the grass for Wesley Ward, but ran like a horse that shouldn’t have any trouble handling some added ground. He actually broke well but was reined in to rate and then seemed to lose position around the far turn while traveling a bit awkwardly. He appeared hopelessly beaten in upper stretch, but then really kicked in through the last furlong to just miss. He’s stretching out, which isn’t a strong move for Ward. Yet he’s bred to go longer, being out of a half-sister to a graded stakes winner over a mile.

A few other contenders exit the May 19 race at this level. Among the horses who hit the board, Then (#1) might have run the best race, making a wide, early move around the far turn and flattening out. However, all of the horses involved in the finish benefited from a pretty fast early pace.

Cuando (#4) was the horse who carving out those fractions, and he ran a lot better than his 6th-place result might suggest. The early TimeformUS Pace Figures for that race were in the low 150s, indicative of an extremely unfavorable pace for frontrunners. Cuando was aggressive in the early stages that day but still held on well until getting swallowed up at the eighth pole, finishing well ahead of his early pace rivals. Now the connections take the blinkers off, which should help settle him down through the opening stages of this race. I also like the slight cutback in distance to a mile as he now lands in a spot that appears to feature less early speed. This horse is bred for turf, and I think he has the potential to fare much better in this second start over grass