Weekend Winners Club

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Saturday, May 14
Belmont Park
Elmont, NY
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Today was a big day for Belmont Park, with 4 graded stakes races on the card, including the Man O War G1, Peter Pan G2, Ruffian G2, and Beaugay G3. In addition, a nice $100k carried over for the Pick 6 pool, making it an even more exciting day for horse playing.
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Peter Pan G2

For those of us Triple Crown fanatics, the big race of the day was the Peter Pan G2 featuring 3yo’s going 9f, most of them for the first time. None of them participated in the Kentucky Derby, but Adventist ran in 3 preps including the Wood, finishing 3rd in all 3.
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Today belonged to the favorite Unified, who despite running his first route and 3rd career race, went off at odds of 1-2. He won his maiden by 3 then the Bayshore G3 by 3 in his 2nd start, both with impressive performance figures. In fact, he’s one of only two 3yo’s with a triple digit Grid PF, which he earned in the Bayshore.
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In the Pan, Unified rated nicely behind the front running Singleton, then took control around the far turn. After opening up by a few lengths, the gap was closed by Governor Malibu coming up the rail from 5 lengths back in the turn. Unified held him off by about a length in the end.
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Also gunning for a late lead was Wild About Deb in his 3rd career start after a 6 length maiden win at 9f in the slop. He closed well but was no match for the top two. All 3 of these will probably be considered for the Belmont Stakes. Adventist came in 4th but was never a big factor.
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Unified trainer James Jerkens said, “I don’t know about the Belmont. There would have to be a lot of horses going by the wayside for that to happen. But you’d be an idiot nowadays to rule anything out because things change overnight. It’s improbable, but not impossible.”
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Results:
Conditions: Stakes, $200,000, Open 3 yo, 1 1/8M, Dirt.
Off Time: 5:45 Start: 8 went. Good for all. Track: Fast Weather: Clear 71o
Pedigree: 7 – Unified, Bay Colt, 3, by Candy Ride (ARG) – Union City by Dixie Union
Fractions: :231, :461, 1:101, 1:342, 1:47 (:23.32, :46.38, 1:10.25, 1:34.46, 1:47.14)

#	Horse	Jockey	Weight	Win	Place	Show
7	Unified	Ortiz Jose L.	116	3.10	2.70	2.20
5	Governor Malibu	Rosario Joel	118		6.70	3.80
6	Wild About Deb	McCarthy Trevor	116			2.80
Wager Type	Payoff		Winning Numbers	Pool
$2 Pick 3	$147.00		1-6-7 (3 Correct)	$91,957
$2 Daily Double	$37.20		6-7	$114,958
$2 Exacta	$19.00		7-5	$442,225
$2 Superfecta	$174.00		7-5-6-3	$187,662
$2 Trifecta	$70.50		7-5-6	$300,152

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Man O War G1

In the featured race, the Man O War G1, older horses ran for a $400k purse going 11f over the inner turf course. Favored Wake Forest was making his 3rd American start, after finishing 6th in the Arlington Millions G1 then 2nd by a head in the Pan Am G2 to rival 4-1 Kaigun, coming off another 2nd place G2 finish.
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Today’s pace looked legit, with long shot Money Multiplier at 18-1 making sure that the lone front runner Go Around (5-1 after ML 10-1) didn’t go around the track all by himself on the lead like he wanted to. They set solid fractions and enabled a good closing kick by the favorite, who moved up just in time to get by Money Multiplier who hung on for 2nd.
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Wake Forest, 2-1, broke slowly in last, where he likes to be early in the race. He moved up slowly after the half mile to get in position for a stretch run, and although moving mightily, he got bottled up along the rail behind tiring rivals. After finding a hole, he squirted outside and laid down his signature closing run for an impressive win.
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Can’thelpbelieving rated in 3rd, initially a fairly large gap behind the two pace setters, and stayed in 3rd, and ended up in 3rd at the finish line at 12-1. Up With The Birds closed well for 4th place at 13-1. Kaigun and the other short choice Morandi were non-factors.
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Results:
Conditions: Stakes, $400,000, Open 4 yo’s & up, 1 3/8M, Turf.
Off Time: 6:17 Start: 9 went. Good for all. Track: Firm Weather: Cloudy 71o
Pedigree: 9 – Wake Forest (GER), Bay Horse, 6, by Sir Percy (GB) – Wurfspiel (GER) by Lomitas (GB)
Fractions: :241, :491, 1:134, 1:381, 2:012, 2:124 (:24.24, :49.24, 1:13.83, 1:38.22, 2:01.55, 2:12.94)

#	Horse	Jockey	Weight	Win	Place	Show
9	Wake Forest (GER)	Velazquez John R.	115	6.30	4.50	3.30
2	Money Multiplier	Ortiz, Jr. Irad	117		14.80	9.90
3	Can’thelpbelieving (IRE)	Rosario Joel	118			6.40
Wager Type	Payoff		Winning Numbers	Pool
$2 Pick 3	$157.50		6-7-9 (3 Correct)	$213,174
$2 Pick 4	$849.00		1-6-7-9 (4 Correct)	$890,175
$2 Daily Double	$11.20		7-9	$157,625
$2 Exacta	$101.50		9-2	$494,396
$2 Superfecta	$5,218.00		9-2-3-6	$166,105
$2 Trifecta	$792.00		9-2-3	$292,957
$2 Grand Slam	$25.60		1/3/6-1/4/6-5/6/7-9 (4 Correct)	$32,933

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Beaugay G3

This race for older fillies and mares going 8.5f over the outer turf course featured two co-favorites at 9-5: Recepta and My Miss Sophia in the competitive field of 8.
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Seeing as there was only one front running type in the field, My Miss Sophia took to the lead to ensure 7-1 Tapitry didn’t go unchallenged. Tapitry however, won that challenge and held on for 2nd after taking the lead in the stretch.
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It was Strike Charmer at 9-1 coming from off the pace with a late closing move to stymie Tapitry’s chance for victory. Moving up for 3rd with a solid late pace was Recepta. My Miss Sophia was able to hold on for 4th.
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Results:
Conditions: Stakes, $150,000, F & M (fillies and mares) 4 yo’s & up, 1 1/16M, Turf.
Off Time: 5:14 Start: 8 went. Good for all. Track: Firm Weather: Cloudy 71o
Pedigree: 6 – Strike Charmer, Bay Mare, 6, by Smart Strike – Cat Charmer by Storm Cat
Fractions: :231, :461, 1:094, 1:332, 1:391 (:23.29, :46.31, 1:09.83, 1:33.40, 1:39.22)

#	Horse	Jockey	Weight	Win	Place	Show
6	Strike Charmer	Ortiz, Jr. Irad	115	20.00	8.00	4.00
4	Tapitry	Ortiz Jose L.	117		7.50	4.20
1	Recepta	Velazquez John R.	119			2.60
Wager Type	Payoff		Winning Numbers	Pool
$2 Pick 3	$138.00		7-1-6 (3 Correct)	$116,561
$2 Daily Double	$99.00		1-6	$79,450
$2 Exacta	$126.50		6-4	$419,316
$2 Superfecta	$1,380.00		6-4-1-8	$137,826
$2 Trifecta	$578.00		6-4-1	$248,558

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Ruffian G2

In the first stakes race of the day, the older fillies and mares went 8f on dirt. Carrumba was the even money favorite, and rated well enough behind a slow pace to gear things up for the lead and a respectable quarter mile of 1.10.6 and holding on for 2nd.
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However, it was 5-2 Cavorting who rated a bit farther back who evened things up at the top of the stretch and kept barreling for a runaway win by about 6 lengths. Early pace setters Spelling Again and Calamity Kate held on for 3rd and 4th.
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Results:
Conditions: Stakes, $250,000, F & M (fillies and mares) 4 yo’s & up, 1M, Dirt.
Off Time: 4:42 Start: 6 went. Good for all. Track: Fast Weather: Clear 71o
Pedigree: 1 – Cavorting, Bay Filly, 4, by Bernardini – Promenade Girl by Carson City
Fractions: :233, :47, 1:103, 1:34 (:23.75, :47.05, 1:10.60, 1:34.05)

#	Horse	Jockey	Weight	Win	Place	Show
1	Cavorting	Castellano Javier	123	7.80	3.30	2.50
6	Carrumba	Ortiz Jose L.	121		2.60	2.10
3	Spelling Again	Saez Luis	121			2.80
Wager Type	Payoff		Winning Numbers	Pool
$2 Pick 3	$628.00		8-7-1 (3 Correct)	$98,950
$2 Daily Double	$14.80		7-1	$82,283
$2 Exacta	$18.60		1-6	$352,751
$2 Superfecta	$185.50		1-6-3-4	$115,087
$2 Trifecta	$68.50		1-6-3	$205,099

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The Pick 6 bookended these 4 stakes races with two 4-5 winners. It paid $2369 for a $2 bet, despite the pool skyrocketing to over $700k. That’s what happens when you have 3 less than even money winners and only one over 5-2 that was still gettable.

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We previously provided Saturday’s Belmont Grid pp’s for free download, if you want to match up the results on the day.
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Preakness past performances Grid can be obtained here.

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