Saturday in the Park

Tweet It's Saturday in the Park (Belmont Park) and though it's not the fourth of July, we are getting there (and in four weeks we'll be there for the big day). It's Peter Pan Day and there is a lot being made of the North American debut of Casino Drive. I've decided to play against the morning line favorite (other than underneath in exotics) as he's coming off only one maiden race and being shipped in from Japan. I feel he'll be more of a factor on Belmont Day at the longer distance and after his first race over Big Sandy. Instead I'm going with the Pletcher/Velasquez duo and Ready's Echo, as there should be enough speed in the race for him to pick up the pieces. Mint Lane should be out front early with Golden Spikes right behind. Golden Spikes ran a second to fifth-place Derby finisher Recapturetheglory in the Illinois Derby and I will couple him with Ready's Echo on top of my trifecta play. I also am intrigued by Cosmic with Javier up, who had a good work this week and has shown improvement. I'm still not sold on Tomcito, other than for him to maybe catch a piece of the tri or super, like Casino Drive, the extra distance on Belmont Day may help.

So here's my $1 trifecta Peter Pan play: 5,6/5,6,7/1,2,5,7 cost: $11 and a $1 exacta box: 5,6.

Also, of note today is the 19th running of the Jim Murray Handicap at Hollywood Park in memory of the late sportswriter. Murray was the acclaimed Pullitizer prize winning sportswriter who became blind during the later stages of his writing career. I remember as a child reading his syndicated columns in the Syracuse Post-Standard and enjoying his wit and savvy sportswriting ability, and seeing that race being run today had me reflecting on those high school breakfast mornings with Jim.