Taking an in-depth look at each stakes race featured in the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival over the next three days. (Today’s analysis was done pre-scratches.)
Race 3 Wonder Again Stakes 4:09 EST The 3 Consumer Spending figures to be a short price in this nine-furlong test on the turf for 3YO fillies to open the week’s stakes offerings. I’m not going to get cute here and try to beat the favorite. Instead, I’m going to try and catch a price underneath. (Which could be a recurring theme this week.) I don’t see a whole lot of speed in this turf race, but I could see 6 Vergara and 7 Skims battling for the early lead. Irad Ortiz, Jr. is on the 1 Shad Nation, who could be in the mix early as well. That would appear to be a perfect setup for Consumer Spending. Joel Rosario is listed as the jockey on both the 2 Myriskyaffair and the 5 Tap the Faith. Even at 2-1 on the morning line, Tap the Faith hasn’t entered my thoughts. My hope is that Rosario rides Myriskyaffair and catches a piece of the trifecta at a price.
The play: $4 exacta 3/7, $1.50 trifecta 3/7/1,2,6, $.50 trifecta 3/1,2,6/7
Total cost: $10
Race 6 Astoria Stakes 5:43 EST This field of six 2YO fillies looks to be a competitive match judging by the paper. Three come in with a 1-for-1 lifetime record. The 6 Devious Dame is the 4-5 morning line favorite, and she’s done nothing wrong, having won in convincing fashion last month at Churchill Downs under jockey Joe Talamo, a Hammer Sheet favorite. Today Joel Rosario jumps aboard. I just don’t think she has the early speed to hang with a couple of others here. I’ll be using 1 Alexis’s Storm and 5 Girl Bye equally on top. Alexis’s Storm gets a jockey upgrade in the form of Trevor McCarthy. He’s a smart rider who will give her the best chance to win based on how the course is playing. Girl Bye could take the field gate-to-wire; she won her debut by a convincing six-and-a-half lengths at Gulfstream Park in April.
The play: $1.50 exacta box 1,5, $1 trifecta 1,5/6/1-5, $.50 trifecta 1,5/1-5/6
Total cost: $15
Race 8 Tremont Stakes 6:45 EST This five-and-a-half furlong sprint features an entire field of winners. The majority of them broke their maidens (all eight horses are 1-for-1 lifetime) taking weaker fields gate-to-wire. Some of these won races as short as two furlongs. This is little more than a dart throw, but I’ll spotlight two interesting horses. The 6 Bisping, now training in Rob Atras’s barn, opened up down the stretch in his win, which was run at four-and-a-half furlongs. The morning line is set at 12-1 and we’ll keep our fingers crossed that it stays double-digit odds. The 8 Zelenskyy Strong gets Irad Ortiz, Jr. to ride and is sure to get bet down from the 5-1 morning line. He also won a four-and-a-half furlong race, opening up to ten and three-fourths lengths down the stretch.
The play: $2 exacta box 6,8
Total cost: $4