Haven\'t bet on anything since the first race, the last Sunday at the Spa, proving that NYRA can survive without me and I without them. Had a friendly run in with a hulking, playful off-duty police dog which has caused some immobility of late, but after a couple of prednisones I am limping around with a sense of purpose.
Without going into great detail, I think the Pick 5 at Belmont on Friday is rather playable. I am not going to give NYRA credit, because it is probably the result of randomness, but there is variety in the sequence which makes it attractive on paper. The first race a wide open turfer that would be the feature race at 9/10ths of the tracks running in North America; the second race a NW2LT with a 6/5 program favorite who looks wholly unreliable (but look at some of the jocks named to ride in this race); the third race a stake featuring the BC Juvenile champ returning to a surface and distance where he has done his best work, 1/2 morning line. The fourth race, a full field of 20K claiming turf sprinters featuring a 6/5 TAP runner who stopped readily at 5.5 furlongs at the Spa, stretching to 6 furlongs. (I love a bomb here; maybe I can redboard him if he wins. If I named him pre - race, people would ask me if I was out of my mind). The final leg is a 50K maiden claimer (the only maiden race in the sequence) with a Tony Dutrow 9/5 favorite who was 13/1 in his MSW debut at Delaware.
The favorite in the first race is 9/5, so the morning line favorite in each of the five legs of the Pick 5 is offered at odds of less than 2/1.
How many of these favorites can you beat in the sequence? Will I even be awake at 1:05 PM this afternoon?
