The late pick four at Woodbine on Sunday starts on race 8, where (6) Gwendoline H can be singled in the six-furlong dash for fillies and mares. The 5-year-old daughter of Archarcharch is coming off a sharp win on turf in her first start for leading trainer Norman McKnight who claimed her for $32,000 on July 11.

Over the past five years, McKnight has a 28 percent strike rate with horses making their second start off the claim, so she should come back with another solid effort. She is a five-time winner on Tapeta, so the surface switch shouldn’t be an issue.

Race 5:
Catsoutofthebag (#10)
Discreet Cat is a decent turf influence, connecting with 13 percent of his starters on grass.
Is a full sister to Fly at Dawn, who was a turf winner in Europe and turf stakes-placed in Dubai.
Trainer Mike Dini does very well with a limited number of starters in New York.
20-1 on ML
---

The featured event at Belmont Park on Saturday is the Grade 2 Sands Point for 3-year-old fillies on the inner turf course, and there’s a horse entered who I believe will present exceptional value. I’ll play a double linking up races 8 and 9, and if I’m not alive entering the Sands Point, I’ll still play the filly I like to win.

RACE 8 – CLM35000N3L

Belmont Park | Race 5 | Post Time 3:41 p.m. (ET) | Go to the TimeformUS PPs

Not already a TimeformUS member? Sign up now]

While this race did not draw a large field, it is nevertheless one of the more complicated handicapping puzzles of the day. There is no clear favorite in this contentious spot, in which any horse except Picture Day is a viable win candidate on the turf.

Apologies for a lack of a column last week—technical difficulties ran into a tight flight schedule for travel to Keeneland September. But if you followed the cards during the week and bet accordingly, you should have done OK. That’s because 20 BreezeFigs maidens won all over the place, with five kicking off BreezeFigs exactas.

Race 4:
Cover Model (#2)

Closed willingly in her debut after getting shuffled back soon after the start.

Is bred to be a good turf filly as a half-sister to Grade 1 turf winner Imagining.

Gets a positive jockey switch to one of the best turf-sprint riders in the country, Joel Rosario.

5-1 on ML

:: Get TimeformUS PPs for these races at Belmont

The focus Saturday shifts north of the border to Woodbine, where the Grade 1, $800,000 Woodbine Mile tops a card that also includes three other graded stakes – the Grade 1, $300,000 Northern Dancer Turf, the Grade 2, $250,000 Canadian, and the Grade 3, $125,000 Bold Venture.

Elsewhere, Churchill Downs has four stakes on its program, three of which are graded – the Grade 2, $200,000 Pocahontas, the Grade 3, $150,000 Iroquois, and the Grade 3, $100,000 Locust Grove.

Meanwhile, the feature at Belmont Park is the Grade 2, $400,000 Sands Point Stakes.

LADIES NIGHT
Trainer: Gail Cox
Last race: Sept. 8, 8th
Finish: 6th by 8 1/4
Beyer: 69
Normally a front-runner, she raced in mid-pack and lacked room on the far turn in the slow-paced La Lorgnette Stakes.

ACED
Trainer: Peter Eurton
Last race: Aug. 6, 2nd
Finish: 2nd by head
Beyer: 79
A 3-year-old first-time starter, this Eskendereya colt gave his experienced stablemate (winner Exultation) a fight before while finishing two lengths clear of third in a solid debut.

SEVEN SCENTS
Trainer: Craig Lewis
Last race: Sept. 6, 6th
Finish: 1st by 1
Beyer: 77

Sept. 8

Kentucky Downs
Kentucky Cup Ladies Turf (race 7)