ESCONDERA
Trainer: Roger Attfield
Last race: Oct. 2, 5th
Finish: 2nd by 1 1/2
Beyer: 68
While in the midst of his rally, he awaited room late on the far turn before closing for second behind a more experienced rival when stretching out in his second start. The Ontario-bred 2-year-old by Eskendereya could have stakes potential.

Sunday's card at Belmont Park  features several stakes races, but the recent rainy weather in New York leaves us with a “good” main track and a yielding turf course.

Because of the wet track conditions, I'm going to play very lightly with a few win bets tossed among some multiple-race wagers.

 Race 5 - Miss Grillo Stakes

COASTED (2) has been extremely impressive in two turf starts for trainer Leah Gyarmati, but will have to deal with a soggy turf course and some pretty tough competition from Europe.

Mother Nature did not cooperate for Super Saturday Part 1 at Belmont Park, where the main track is muddy and all turf races except the two graded stakes are off the grass.

Let’s look at the late pick five, which will include all of the graded stakes, save the four-horse field in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic, which features Flintshire at the shortest of prices.

Want to bet winners? The Saturday card at Santa Anita is a good card for that, particularly rock-solid favorites in races 6-9.

Klimt (6-5), California Chrome (2-5), Zipessa (7-2) and Beholder (3-5) are favored to win Grade 1’s. At those prices, a $2 win parlay would return $44.

Perhaps there are more appealing chances available than combining four favorites, no matter their reliability. With that in mind, below are Grade 1 opportunities Saturday at Santa Anita.

Race 6, FrontRunner

The “saver” did it for us as Brahms Cat chugged home to a $19.40 payoff last week to make us look slightly smart in a race where our two top Pix went awry—one of them eased and walked off the track. Alas. Still, it was another good week for BreezeFigs maidens as 15 others broke through to win including Heart Astray, a perfectly playable $103 number at Presque Isle.

Sept. 24

Belmont

Noble Damsel (race 8)

This is a fine-tuned play from a “caveman” ticket I put together in DRF TicketMaker for the late pick four using the “ABC” system of ranking horses in Formulator.

Race 6

A look at the mid-program pick four at Laurel Park on Saturday, part of the "Class on the Grass" card:

The biggest card of the year at Parx Racing features several compelling races, including the All Stakes Pick 4 (races 8-11):

RACE 8: Using all seven in this Pennsylvania Derby Championship, as favorite MR. JORDAN is more than capable but also vulnerable at a relatively short price. Every runner in the field has the credentials to win this if able to run to their best figure (7).

Apologies offered. Somehow we misread the PP lines last week and identified our Pick Carson Kan as a first-timer—which he was not.