Ricky’s Rockets ?: Belmont Park Picks for June 7, 2020

Saturday’s Belmont Park action saw older runners return to the track in style – Code of Honor, Newspaperofrecord, and Vekoma. Out west, Honor A. P. stamped himself a legitimate Kentucky Derby (G1) contender.

Sunday’s Belmont Park card presents a great opportunity to end the weekend in the black.

Best of luck!

Race 1: $14k Claiming for fillies and mares 3-year-olds and upward going 6 furlongs on the dirt

#1 Lookbothways had been running well against open claimers prior to her clunker against allowance runners. She drops back down to a reasonable claiming level and gets Kendrick Carmouch aboard – he rode her to both career victories. #5 Appletini has shown speed in previous starts at this level and Luis Cardenas is one of the best bug boys on the NYRA circuit; he had two winners on the Thursday card. #11 J J Loves Billy makes her Belmont Park debut for new trainer Gary Sciacca (who wins with 13% first-timers) after facing allowance fields.

Race 2: Allowance for 3-year-olds going 1 mile (8 furlongs) on the outer turf

#1 Domestic Spending has strong connections in trainer Chad Brown and jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. This is a tough bunch of recent maiden-breaking winners, so I am also using #2 Maxwell Esquire, #4 Talako, #6 Get Smokin, and #8 Ever Dangerous.

Race 3: $10k Claiming for fillies and mares 3-year-olds and upward going 6 furlongs on the dirt

#6 Camorra, once a promising runner as a 3-year-old, finds herself in for the lowest tag of her career and the Rudy Rodriguez barn has been on fire to start the meet (8-2-1-1). She’s my lone single in this sequence.

Race 4: Maiden Special Weight for New York-bred fillies and mares 3-year-olds and upward going 1 1/16 miles (8 1/2 furlongs) on the inner turf

#2 Pandamom returns from a layoff for Christophe Clement, who wins at 26% with similar angles. I was impressed with her abaility to pass horses in her debut. #3 Afleeting Glance makes her debut while going two turns on the turf for Tom Morley, and the fact that leading rider Irad Ortiz, Jr., rides for Morley for the first time in two years hints that this filly could be special. #5 Spin Your Partner debuted in March for Arnaud Delacour, who adds blinkers for her first turf attempt. Delacour excels with runners getting blinkers for the first time (25%) and runners making their turf debut (29%). #8 Beyond Brown will need to take a step forward and is a defensive use in this spot because she was well-clear of Pandamom in that rival’s debut.

Race 5: Maiden Special Weight for New York-bred 3-year-olds and upward going 1 mile (8 furlongs on the dirt

#2 Microsecond looked mighty impressive in his debut, missing by just a head after fighting on the front end the whole way, and he moves to trainer Todd Pletcher (who wins at 27% first time running from his barn). My only concern is the added distance that he will be asked to cover. #4 Senrima outran his 52/1 odds in his lone start, and while Jorge Vargas, Jr., isn’t the most well-known rider, but he wins 19% with Rudy Rodriguez runners in the last 365 days. #10 Z’finale debuts for Chad Brown and Javier Castellano, who win 27% together. His 8/1 morning line intrigues me.

THE TICKET

$.50 PICK 5 (Races 1-5) 1,5,11 / 1,2,4,6,8 / 6 / 2,3,5,8 / 2,4,10 – $90