Week starts with $118,000 pick six carryover
ELMONT, N.Y. – A two-day pick six carryover of $118,315 greets horseplayers Wednesday as Belmont Park kicks off its third full week of racing.
Wednesday’s sequence, expected to be conducted under fast and firm conditions, has three dirt races and three turf races and includes a tricky maiden race for fillies and mares going seven furlongs carded as race 6. The eighth, a $77,000 first-level allowance feature scheduled for a mile on the turf, is a skullbuster. It is followed by a New York-bred maiden claimer with a less-than-stellar field going 1 1/8 miles on the turf as the last race of the day.
Here’s a look at the sequence, which begins at 2:53 p.m. Eastern with race 4:
Race 4: Kathy’s Reward drops out of troubled sixth in a listed stakes at Mahoning Valley into this $20,000 claimer and shows a bullet work over the Belmont main track for trainer Joe Sharp, who is removing blinkers from the filly’s equipment. Adrift, a debut winner for maiden $30,000 claiming, could get a good setup.
Race 5: There are two schools of thought in this race. R Y Squadron, returning off a seven-month layoff for the white-hot Chad Brown, is a single. Or, you have to use some among the four runners from an April 18 race at Aqueduct. I’d prefer to spread to include Amazing Anne and Brockolini, both from the barn of trainer Tom Morley. In that April 18 race, Brockolini got sawed off at the break, in part because Amazing Anne came out and crowded her and Loon River, who is worth using because her lone win came at Belmont.
Race 6: This seven-furlong maiden race features I’ll Take Charge, a $2.2 million purchase who is a half-sister to Grade 1 stakes winners Take Charge Indy and Will Take Charge. Those two were more precocious than this one seems to be, and trainer Bill Mott is not known for his prowess with first-time starters, so I’m going to leave this one off the ticket.
Trainer Todd Pletcher said Touch the Moon was “a filly we had high hopes for.” She makes her debut in this race from the outside post, which Pletcher said “is a good place to start” for a first-time starter going seven furlongs. Reign could move forward off her last start, which was her first off the layoff. Gasparilla Inn comes off a good effort but has to deal with the rail.
Race 7: I might single Liberty Island here. She goes first time for Pletcher and sprints for the first time. She showed promise in her first two starts and then ran sixth and last in the Busher, won by Condo Commando. That race is a throw-out. Camille’s Storm would be the only other one I’d use. She comes off a four-length maiden win and subsequent bullet work for trainer Jim Ryerson.
Race 8: Request returns from a layoff for Brown, who removes blinkers from the colt’s equipment. Request was good enough to win first time out going a mile, but that was 20 months ago and he hasn’t won since. He has run well here and off a layoff. Seagate makes his turf debut and is by Dynaformer out of Cocoa Beach, a Grade 1 winner on dirt and turf. He is reunited with Angel Arroyo, the only jockey to win on him.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 5 Request. Trainer Chad Brown is 12-7-3-0 with a $4.68 ROI over the past five years when taking blinkers off in turf routes. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
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Animal Kracker and English Minister are worth using if you have deep pockets.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 9 Adirondack Dancer. Trainer Linda Rice is 26-5-4-3 with a $2.17 ROI over the past two years in turf routes on the NYRA circuit following a layoff of 100 days or more. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
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Race 9: My Friend Keith is first time in for a tag, first time as a gelding, and first time for Mott. He is a must-use. His race three back, a second in a statebred maiden special weight at Aqueduct in April 2014, is good enough to win this. Foxhall Drive is first time for a tag for Dominick Schettino. He faced better in two turf tries last year. Qusaichi is a first-time starter for Mike Maker who shows a steady string of works for his debut.