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NYRA teams with Lone Star for Sunday's Cross Country Pick 5

by Ryan Martin

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) will again host a Cross Country Pick 5 on Sunday, featuring racing action from Belmont Park as well as Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas.

All of the Cross Country Pick 5 action will feature live on America's Day at the Races, formerly known as Belmont Park Live, which broadcasts nationwide on FS2 from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. ET and will carry locally on MSG+ from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. ET.

Racing analyst Jonathon Kinchen will be on-track at Lone Star Park to provide expert analysis of the featured Steve Sexton Mile.

Kicking off the sequence is Belmont Park's seventh race which is a seven-furlong maiden event over the main track featuring the Todd Pletcher-trained Presto, the Chad Brown-trained pair of Fullness of Time and Lookin At Roses as well as Spice Road who is a full-brother to graded stakes winner Avery Island. The race is scheduled for 4:45 p.m. ET.

The second leg will be Lone Star Park's sixth race. Carded for 5:05 p.m. ET, the event is a five-furlong maiden claiming race on the turf for 3-year-olds and upward which drew a field off 11 plus one also eligible entrant. Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen has two entered for the event, with Mighty Merle and Trip Candy.

The action then shifts back to New York for the eighth race at Belmont - a New York-bred allowance event going six furlongs on the main track, featuring Belle Gallantey winner Not About the Nail, stakes placed Orchid Party and My Last Million who seeks a third straight victory.

The penultimate leg, the Grade 3 $300,000 Steve Sexton Mile, includes a well-matched field of 10 contestants including Charles Fipke's Title Ready who was a winner at Aqueduct during the winter meet; the Phil D'Amato trained stakes placed pair of King Abner and Air Strike; and multiple graded stakes winning millionaire Shotgun Kowboy. For the past two years, the winner of the Steve Sexton Mile has gone on to win the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap as a part of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival. The one-mile test over the Lone Star main track is scheduled to go off at 5:40 p.m. ET.

The Cross Country Pick 5 closes out in Belmont Park's featured event - the $125,000 License Fee for fillies and mares 4-years-old and upward going six furlongs on the inner turf. A field of seven has been drawn for the event including German-bred Albertville, who makes her first start in the United States for trainer Christophe Clement and stakes-winner Broadway Run. Trained by John Terranova, the Florida-bred daughter of Prospective has never finished off the board in six career starts. The License Fee has a scheduled post time of 5:51 p.m. ET.

The minimum bet for the multi-track, multi-race wager is 50 cents. Wagering on the Cross Country Pick 5 is also available on track, on ADW platforms, and at simulcast facilities across the country. There will be a mandatory payout of the entire pool.

Cross Country Pick 5 on Sunday, April 28

Leg 1: Belmont Park - Race 7, 4:45 p.m.
Leg 2: Lone Star Park - Race 6, 5:05 pm
Leg 3: Belmont Park - Race 8, 5:18 p.m.
Leg 4: Lone Star Park - Grade 3 $300,000 Steve Sexton Mile (Race 7, 5:40 pm)
Leg 5: Belmont Park - $125,000 License Fee (Race 9, 5:51 p.m.)