Saturday’s Cross Country Pick 5 features graded stakes from Belmont Park and Keeneland

by Keith McCalmont

Free Equibase PPs available

The New York Racing Association Inc. (NYRA) will host a Cross Country Pick 5 on Saturday featuring graded-stakes action from Keeneland and Belmont Park.

Free Equibase past performances for the Cross Country Pick 5 sequence are now available for download at https://www.nyra.com/belmont/racing/cross-country-....

Saturday’s sequence kicks off in Race 8 at Belmont Park at 4:21 p.m. Eastern with trainer Chad Brown saddling Tamahere and Love and Thunder as he attempts to win the Grade 3 Noble Damsel for the sixth year in a row.

Tamahere enters the one-mile Widener turf test for fillies and mares from a dominant 7 1/4-length score in the 1 1/16-mile Violet in September over yielding Monmouth Park turf. Love and Thunder won a seven-furlong turf allowance sprint last out on October 1 over the Belmont green. Steep opposition will be provided by High Opinion, runner-up last out in the Grade 2 Ballston Spa; and the speedy multiple stakes winner Shifty She.

Action switches to Keeneland [Race 8, 4:44 p.m.] for the second leg with a dozen 3-year-olds and upward signed on for a 1 1/16-mile turf allowance led by graded-stakes winners Mr Dumas and Bizzee Channel.

Trained by John Ortiz, Mr Dumas matched a career-best 100 Beyer winning a similar Keeneland turf allowance last October. He enters from a fading sixth in the Grade 3 Ack Ack on October 2 at Churchill Downs. Bizzee Channel, trained by Larry Rivelli, won the Grade 3 Arlington three starts back traveling 1 3/16 miles over good going. He enters from a distant eighth in the Grade 3 Mint Million on September 6 at Kentucky Downs.

In the third leg, the Grade 2, $400,000 Hill Prince [Race 9, 4:52 p.m.], Brown sends out a formidable trio in Public Sector, Sifting Sands and Founder in the nine-furlong inner turf test for sophomores at Belmont. Public Sector, by Kingman, enters from back-to-back scores at Saratoga in the one-mile Grade 2 Hall of Fame in August and the 1 1/16-mile Grade 3 Saranac on September 4.

Sifting Sands, winner of the restricted Better Talk Now on August 29 at the Spa, and Founder, who captured the Tale of the Cat two starts back at Monmouth Park, are both in search of their first graded score. A longshot contender is the well-related stakes-winner War Bomber [by War Front], who is a full sibling to Group 1-winner Lancaster Bomber and a half-brother to multiple Group 1-winner Excelebration [by Exceed and Excel].

The final two legs take place at Keeneland with the penultimate race featuring a field of 13 sophomore fillies in the seven-furlong Grade 2 Raven Run in Race 9 at 5:16 p.m. led by multiple Grade 1-placed Juddmonte homebred Obligatory for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott.

The Curlin grey, who won the Grade 2 Eight Belles in April at Churchill Downs, has made her last three starts in Grade 1 company including runner-up efforts in both the Acorn in June at Belmont and the Cotillion at Parx last out on September 25. The regally-bred Zainalarab, by War Front and out of the graded-stakes winning Tapit mare Delightful Joy, steps into stakes company for the first time off a sharp allowance win in August at Saratoga.

Closing out the wager is a loaded one-mile turf allowance for 3-year-olds and up that drew a field of 12, including Grade 1-placed Ginsburned and an impressive Godolphin homebred maiden winner in Santin – a Distorted Humor bay out of the multiple graded-stakes winning Medaglia d’Oro mare Sentiero Italia.

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

America's Day at the Races is presented by America's Best Racing, Runhappy, and Claiborne Farm. For the complete broadcast schedule, and additional programming information, visit https://www.nyra.com/belmont/racing/tv-schedule.

The Cross Country Pick 5 will continue each Saturday throughout the year. For more information, visit NYRABets.com.

Cross Country Pick 5 – Saturday, October 23:

Leg A: Belmont-Race 8, G3 Noble Damsel (4:21 p.m.)

Leg B: Keeneland-Race 8, allowance (4:44 p.m.)

Leg C: Belmont-Race 9, G2 Hill Prince (4:52 p.m.)

Leg D: Keeneland-Race 9, G2 Raven Run (5:16 p.m.)

Leg E: Keeneland-Race 10, allowance (5:48 p.m.)