SHINOBI
Trainer: Chad Brown
Last race: June 27, 10th
Finish: 6th by 6 1/2
Beyer: 68
Seven weeks after a respectable debut, he checked off heels near the three-sixteenths pole, moved toward the inside and finished with some interest.

KY CAUSEWAY
Trainer: Kevin Attard
Last race: June 24, 6th
Finish: 2nd by neck
Beyer: 62
She was blocked behind rivals from midway on the turn until the eighth pole before surging late to just miss when she debuted in an Ontario-sired maiden special weight sprint.

Saturday, June 27

Belmont - Mother Goose (race 9)

COMMENT: Heavy rain hit not long before the race but the track was still listed as fast. Include Betty was the only graded stakes winner in the field, having won the Grade 3 Fantasy at Oaklawn April 4, and that proven class showed here. Coming off a rallying second to Keen Pauline in the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan at Pimlico May 15, she settled in last as Hot City Girl and Embellish the Lace set strong splits.

Like many other people, I’m having serious second thoughts about the popular current concept of clustering a bunch of stakes on a single race card to create a big event day.

Download DRF Plus handicapping reports for Sunday's races, including DRF Bets GamePlan, the Positive ROI Report, and Key Race Report.

DRF Bets GamePlan

Closer looks for Belmont Park, Gulfstream Park, Monmouth Park, Santa Anita, and Woodbine, and spot plays and live longshots for Belmont Park, Lone Star Park, and Santa Anita. Picks are chronologically listed, so you can build and plan your wagering day.

How I’ll play Belmont on Sunday remains a work in progress, depending on the timing of whatever Mother Nature has in store for the Long Island area. At this writing, heavy rain and thunderstorms were forecast as a good bet to pummel the track starting sometime late afternoon or early evening Saturday, possibly lingering into Sunday morning. So it seems as though four scheduled turf races – the second, fourth, eighth, and ninth – are in serious jeopardy, while the main track could wind up a sealed and sloppy quagmire or a harrowed drying-out “good” depending on the timing of things.

Sleepy P (#1, ML 9-5) switches to turf for the first time in Saturday's fifth race at Woodbine, a one-mile maiden special weight race. Since Jan. 1, 2014, trainer Ashlee Brnjas is winning at a 41 percent clip with first-time turf starters, for a return on investment of $5.98.

Check out the Positive ROI report as part of DRF Plus.

Hammers Terror (#5, ML 5-1) is in good form and has the back class to suggest he can step up and contend in a weak Grade 2 turf stake, Saturday's eighth race at Churchill Downs, the one-mile Firecracker Stakes.

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The track at Belmont Park on Sunday is sloppy and there will be no turf racing. This article has been updated to refelct those changes.

Sunday is not an easy day at Belmont Park. I think a lot of the races are wide open. I am going to try to key a pick three on races 4-6 around Unbridled Juan in the final leg.

To do that, I am going to forgive Unbridled Juan for his last race, a first-level optional claimer at 1 1/16 miles over Polytrack at Woodbine. He finished third in an oddly run race at 15 cents on the dollar.

Some competitive races toward the back of this closing-day program give a late pick three some appeal.

Race 6