Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Plenty of guaranteed action for bettors looking for big hit
ELMONT, N.Y. – There are a number of guaranteed wagering pools at Belmont Park this Friday and Saturday and a pair of two-day daily doubles linking major stakes.
The first daily double is on the Grade 2 New York Stakes, a 1 1/4-mile turf race for fillies and mares that is carded as race 9 on Friday, and the Grade 1 Met Mile, carded as race 9 on Saturday.
The second daily double ties together the Grade 3 Belmont Gold Cup, a two-mile turf race slotted as race 10 on Friday, and the Belmont Stakes, which is race 11 on Saturday.
There is a $500,000-guaranteed all-stakes pick four on Friday that begins on race 8. The races are the True North, New York Stakes, Belmont Gold Cup, and Bed o’ Roses Invitational.
The Friday pick six begins on race 6 and has a guaranteed pool of $100,000. The sequence begins with a maiden race at 1 3/8 miles on turf and a firstlevel optional-claiming race for 3-year-olds at a mile on turf.
First post Friday is 12:50 p.m. Eastern.
There are four guaranteed wagering pools on Saturday.
The pick five that begins on race 1 at 11:35 a.m. is guaranteed to have a $500,000 pool. The pick three that begins on race 3 will have a pool of at least $250,000. That pick three comprises the Brooklyn, Acorn, and Ogden Phipps.
The pick six begins on race 6 and has a $500,000-guaranteed pool. The races are the Jaipur, Woody Stephens, Just a Game, Met Mile, Manhattan, and Belmont Stakes.
The largest guaranteed pool is $1.5 million on the pick four that begins on race 8 with the Just a Game and concludes with the Belmont.
Calumet well represented
Calumet Farm in Lexington, Ky., had a productive Triple Crown prep season with its 3-year-old crop, putting the storied operation in a position to be represented in this year’s Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont Stakes. Patch will close out the Triple Crown run for Calumet on Saturday, when he starts from post 12 in the Belmont Stakes.
Patch, the runner-up in the Louisiana Derby, was one of three Kentucky Derby starters for Calumet, alongside Hence, the winner of the Sunland Derby, and Sonneteer, who as a maiden ran second in the Rebel Stakes and fourth in the Arkansas Derby. Hence and Term of Art, who ran fourth in the Robert B. Lewis Stakes and third in the San Felipe this winter at Santa Anita, started in the Preakness.
So far, the best Triple Crown race finish for Calumet this year was a ninth in the Preakness, courtesy of Hence.
Calumet long ago cemented its place in the breeding and racing communities when Whirlaway won the Triple Crown in 1941 and Citation swept the series in 1948. Fast forward to the present day, and victories in Triple Crown races continue to be the historic standard by which success is measured. Calumet, which boasts eight wins in the Kentucky Derby, registered its latest Triple Crown race win in 2013, when Oxbow captured the Preakness. It was the first classic under the farm’s newest ownership, led by Brad Kelley.
Calumet has several stallions and may be adding more. Hence, Sonneteer, and Patch are homebreds, while Term of Art was a yearling purchase at Keeneland September for $220,000. Hence is by Street Boss, Sonneteer by Midnight Lute, Patch by Union Rags, and Term of Art by Tiznow.