Wednesday TimeformUS Highlight Horse: Montrachet’s speed makes her dangerous off the layoff

Belmont | Race 7 | Post Time 4:41 p.m. (ET) | Go to the TimeformUS PPs

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With the defection of morning-line choice Eloquent Riddle, the favorite’s role will probably be transferred to Cursor (#7), who makes her second start off the layoff after a decent return sprinting at Gulfstream. In her lone try at this distance last fall, she made a menacing move before flattening out late in the Grade 3 Tempted. As a closer, she is dependent on some pace developing ahead of her, and there may not be much of it.

That’s why I'm taking a shot with the speedy MONTRACHET (#3).

This filly ran well on a fast track as a 2-year-old and gets that kind of going here. She defeated subsequent stakes winner Lockdown in her Aqueduct maiden score and now returns as a more mature 3-year-old. She was a sizeable 2-year-old and should have grown into that frame with added maturity. According to DRF Formulator, Christophe Clement, who has started strongly at Belmont, is 12 for 31 (39 percent) with a $2.95 ROI when giving non-debuting runners Lasix for the first time on dirt. Furthermore, Clement gets a 99 TimeformUS Trainer Rating with runners coming off layoffs of this type.

I’ll use her with recent maiden winners Cosi Bella (#2) and Overture (#4), along with the logical Cursor.

THE PLAY

Win: 3

Exacta Key Box: 3 with 2,4,7

Trifecta: 3 with 2,4,7 with 1,2,4,7