Saturday’s TimeformUS Highlight Horse: If she breaks cleanly, Anna Liffey can pull off the upset

Belmont | Race 2 | Post Time 2:04 p.m. (ET) | Go to the TimeformUS PPs

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The established options in this race are not very appealing. Hansen’s Help (#7) faced better runners as a two-year-old, but she’s a question mark coming back off a lengthy layoff. Giant Ending (#5) and Desert Affair (#6) have run competitive speed figures on occasion, but both of them have had their fair share of chances. Diamonds N Stones (#8) was installed as the morning-line favorite off a third-place finish at this level last time. However, she didn't actually run any better than the runner that finished directly behind her that day, Anna Liffey – and she is the one I want in this race.

ANNA LIFFEY (#2) turned her head at the start last time, spotting the field nearly 10 lengths. All things considered she did well to get up for fourth, and a similar effort may be good enough to win at this level provided she breaks cleanly. I know it seems like that's her only decent race, but her prior dirt race April 7 was not nearly as bad an effort as it seems. She got a truly ridiculous trip that day, losing many lengths of position while being steadied in traffic on the turn. This filly has subtly improved in recent months and has a legitimate chance to pull off the upset here.

THE PLAY

Win/Place: 2

Exacta Key Box: 2 with 5,6,7,8