RT's Thursday Belmont Park Picks focus on two 2yo stakes races, the Astoria in Race 6 & the Tremont in Race 8
RT’s Spot Plays
06.09.22
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Belmont Park Race 6 – The $150K Astoria Stakes
2yo fillies going 5.5 furlongs
6-Devious Dame (4/5) 1-Alexis’s Storm (5/1), 5-Girl Bye (9/2), and 3-Born Dapper (5/2), have put up the biggest Equibase numbers in their debut, with Born Dapper the only of them to not win her only race. Girl Bye is the third Cajun Breeze horse for Michael Yates to bring from msw to stakes in its second race – Cajun Firecracker, who won with a 93 Equibase score and Dean Delivers, who lost by a neck after an epic fight with Cajun’s Magic. Look for improvement out of this filly. I am more partial to the trip that Devious Dame had last out, where she had to fight for the lead before pulling away late. Alexis’s Storm and Girl Bye both blasted off and did not look back. I am going to bet Luis Saez on Born Dapper, who just raced 12 days ago before shipping from Woodbine. Although synthetic runs faster than dirt, her final fraction of :12.2 is tough to ignore.
Belmont Park Race 8 – The $150K Tremont Stakes
2yo’s going 5.5 furlongs
4-No Nay Hudson (5/2), the $190K Keeneland September Yearling Sale colt will take the money with his Wesley Ward connection and excellent breeding, albeit for turf. Ward did work him out on turf on May 20 and he clocked a poor 1:06.4 for five furlongs. Regardless, I would anticipate this colt is going to head to Europe, given the trainers M.O. 7-Two Of A Kind (3/1) has Luis Saez aboard again and he will be another to come out cooking. His 3.75 length debut win in :58 flat, or :11.6 per furlong, and his June 3 work of :47.8 make him attractive. Saez/Lynch 33% together. 8-Zelensky Strong (5/1)…if you get 5/1 with Irad/Peter Walder, grab it. An Uncaptured colt, he smoked it out of the gate and did not look back, getting 4.5 furlongs in :52.3, or :11.6 per furlong, and wining by 11 lengths. His recent work of :48.8 at Belmont, shows he is fit and ready to rumble. The only concern is the sire's 2yo progeny are 0/4 at Belmont, and that is too small of a sample to fret over. My choice is 5-Valenzan Day (7/2), by Khozan, whose overall record for 2nd time, 2yo starters is 12%, yet when narrowed down to males, it jumps to 29%. His lone start, and win, was at Belmont, and with jockey Joel Rosario, the leading sprint jock in the colony, in the irons, he gets my vote.
Happy Hunting 😊
