The Belmont Stakes, the end of the Triple Crown Trail, is Saturday, but unlike Churchill Downs and Pimlico which have big stakes on Friday, the Belmont Festival began on Thursday. So after playing the Woodbine races last night I had selections from Belmont today, including a BEST Bet. After going through the nine races on the Thursday card I found five that I thought were solid enough angles to play. In the 2nd Core Portfolio held a big edge over the field in his last race 83 figure at today's one-turn mile. The problem was he was stepping up out of the maiden ranks. But the "ridden confidently" made me think he would handle the rise. Set the pace to the stretch at 4/5 and stopped badly. In the fourth we were on the turf and it came down to either On Leave who was the 8/5 program favorite or Chad Brown's Tailoredforsucces who was 5/1. I went with the price. Evenly all the way around while On Leave ran away as tons the best. In the sixth it was a nw2x allowance going seven furlongs and there appeared to be a lot of speed in the 13-horse field. I liked the lightly raced So Noted who had a bullet work for today's event. Just as I thought he was about six off the lead heading into the turn and there were eight bunched on or near the lead as he began making up ground. But as they were mid-way on the turn he was behind a wall of horses. Found a seam and then moved wide into the lane, hit a high gear and ran by them all to score.
The pay off of $6.40 got me back to nearly even despite just a minimum bet. The 7th was The Astorita for two-year-old fillies. I thought that Olive Branch had a good chance as the only one that had broke her maiden when coming from off the pace. My second choice was Bode's Dream who, if he could clear, could wire the field. I watched them come on the track, then went back to handicapping. When I flipped over with two minutes to post time my filly had scratched! I briefly considered Bode's Dream, but watched instead. He wired the field at 2/1. The good news was that later my son Jeff called and told me he'd hit with So Noted AND Bode's Dream. The 8th was my final bet of the day and it was BET of the Day. It was The Intercontinental Stakes going seven furlongs on the turf. The distance is a unique distance on the turf. At Gulfstream a 7 1/2 furlong turf event is a two-turn event. But at Belmont, a seven furlong turf sprint IS a sprint. But it's too far for a five furlong specialist and typically too short for traditional turf routers. Two things point out my selection - Zindaya. First, she had last been seen when a best-of-the-rest second to Lady Shipman in the License Fee Stakes here. Lady Shipman had exited that race to dominate The Very One at Pimlico as my Bet of the Weekend on Preakness Saturday. Secondly, last year she'd won the License Fee and come back to win this race, the seven furlong Intercontinental. So the distance, obviously was NOT going to be a problem. I also liked the fact that Zindaya had actually run faster in defeat to Lady Shipman in the License Fee than she had when winning it last summer. I shook my head at analyst Andy Serling - who you remember I am never a fan of, and especially of his condescending attitude that everyone else is obviously wrong - when he said he just thought that the distance was wrong for her.....duh, she WON this race last year Andy! She was patiently handled by Javier Castellano stalking the leaders through the turn, swung out and was cut loose to run away!
The crowd also did not buy Andy's off-base analysis and had made Zindaya the even money favorite. As the "BET of the DAY" I had made her a prime time play so I would be cashing for over $40. So for the day I was a sharp 2-for-4 and a profit of a little less than $20. I am hopeful that tomorrow there are not so many storms in the area as I plan to go to Gulfstream to play a few races where I have picks from both Monouth and Belmont.
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