It's Penn Mile Day at Penn National, but while the early pick four is where the stakes action is, it may not be where the value is. Rather than try to beat some logical favorites in the black-types races, I'll take a shot at some prices in a midcard pick three.

Saturday’s card at Santa Anita is highlighted by two Grade 1 events, the Shoemaker Mile on turf and the Vanity Mile on the main track. Each race brings plenty of intrigue to the table. The Shoemaker Mile is a small but select field, and the Vanity is a showdown between Beholder and Stellar Wind (and possibly Taris, as she’s yet to be officially scratched at the time of this writing). Here are a couple of wagers I’ll look to play Saturday.

RACE 5

The Grade 3, $200,000 Pennine Ridge Stakes headlines Saturday afternoon’s card at Belmont. Let’s take a look at a couple of potential price plays:

Race 7 – New York-bred maiden special weight
4 – BORN FOR A STORM (10-1 morning line, 6-1 value line)

This statebred maiden special boasts several intriguing pedigrees, but I’ll trust top trainer Chad Brown to have first-time starter Born for a Storm ready to rock.

Shackin Up turned out to be a good, but penurious, Pick last week, but she got the job done thought we were a bit disappointed that our exacta box Pick, Tizway That Way, was scratched. We told you we thought every BreezeFigs 2-year-old first-timer on the card was worth playing, and another one, Recruiting Ready, came in at Pimlico at $3.20, while the other two completed trifectas at Santa Anita and Woodbine.

Belmont Park

Track: Fast

Weather: Clear

Temp.: 66

ELMONT, N.Y. – It was a relatively quiet morning on the Belmont Stakes watch here Thursday, with the favorite, Exaggerator, getting a day off from training, Lani doing little more than walking after having breezed the previous day, and a trio of recent arrivals – Preakness runner-up Cherry Wine, stablemate Brody’s Cause, and Creator – all getting themselves acclimated to their new surroundings.

FLORIDA WON
Trainer: Mark Casse
Last race: May 28, 8th
Finish: 4th by 9
Beyer: 83
He stalked a sleepy pace set by the eventual winner Are You Kidding Me before tiring in his first start in nearly seven months in the Grade 2 Eclipse. It's the multiple stakes winner’s first race as a gelding, and it should set him up nicely for the next one.

Churchill
Winning Colors (race 10)

A bettor could wager on all favorites Monday at Santa Anita, and probably cash a few tickets. Or, a bettor could take one healthy swing at one decent price in race 8, the Grade 1 Gamely Stakes.

 The latter option makes more sense, don’t you think?

Wekeela is the 9-5 program favorite in the Gamely Stakes, a nine-furlong turf race for fillies and mares. Her U.S. debut was outstanding. Racing one mile in the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley at Keeneland, she broke slowly, rallied wide on the far turn, made a menacing move and finished second.

Let’s take a look at a few races at Belmont on Sunday. How will I play? 

Carefully.

I don’t necessarily love any horses so will try to make lemonade from lemons by sniffing out some overlays in the win pool and playing small multiple-race tickets.

A very interesting card is on tap at Belmont Park on Saturday, with the last pick three perhaps the most compelling.