One of my favorite plays in an attempt to make a lot with a little is the trifecta key. You find one horse on which to hinge your water and put five others underneath (for a $1 tri, that’s $20; for a $1 super, that’s $60). This also shows some confidence in your handicapping. You’re not blasting away with a bunch of horses on top, hoping you hit something. You’re identifying a horse you like and taking a stand.

Besides needing to take a stand, this move really only works in a good-sized field. Since the fields Sunday are light until the back end of the card, we’ll look there.

Belmont Gold Cup/Belmont Stakes $2 daily double will-pays:

Pool: $756,482

No. 2 Innovation Economy ($7) in the Gold Cup with/

1) Mubtaahij, $87.50
2) Tale of Verve, $214.50
3) Madefromlucky, $123
4) Frammento, $266
5) American Pharoah, $15
6) Frosted, 44.80
7) Keen Ice, $178.50
8) Materiality, $51

I find the Manhattan, race 10, unwieldy and don’t really like anyone very well, and find race 13, the second-level, $62,500 optional-claiming dirt sprint, unwieldy and don’t really like anybody. So, without strong opinions anywhere in the sequence, the idea of putting together an expensive play seems unwise. In fact, I’m going caveman style here and merely narrowing things to the horses I like best – no backups – in those two tricky races.

Belmont Stakes Day action starts promptly at 11:35 a.m. Eastern, and Todd Pletcher wastes no time making his presence felt with Stanford as the 6-5 morning-line favorite in the first of 13 Saturday races. But does he have to win when making his first start since the Louisiana Derby? Well...

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

DRF Bets GamePlan

Saturday is closing day at Pimlico, and there is a mandatory payout on the Rainbow 6. Here is my play:

Race 6

Going with all A's and no B's (or C's, for that matter) in this opening leg, as WITH EXPRESSION, TALKIN' STUFF, and DUKE OF PERTH seem to have an edge on the others. They're too close to separate, so I'll use them all equally, and the others don't seem to be good enough.

A’s: 2, 4, 6
B’s: NONE
C’s: NONE

ELMONT, N.Y. – There’s something for horseplayers of all wagering persuasions on this 13-race Belmont Stakes card, whether they like to shoot for the moon in the four guaranteed multirace exotic pools or make solid percentage plays on legit favorites, or both.

After a couple of cloudy and raw days, weather conditions are forecast to be ideal, with fast and firm conditions and temperatures warming to more seasonable levels in the mid-70s.

Trainer Patrick Swan saddles Ganzumacher (#3, ML 3-1) in Friday’s sixth race at Prairie Meadows, a six-furlong claimer. Since Jan. 1, 2014, Swan is winning at a 31 percent clip in sprint races, for a return on investment of $11.03.

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Indian Brut (#6, ML 5-1) returns in Friday’s second race at Belmont Park, a 6 1/2-furlong allowance. It will be his first start since finishing third by three lengths in an optional claimer March 15 at Gulfstream Park. The first- and second-place finishers from that race came back to win their next starts.

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When the weirdness hits, it doesn’t stop.