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Sunday’s all-turf Cross Country Pick 5 to feature racing from Belmont Park and Churchill Downs

by Keith McCalmont

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) will host an all-turf Cross Country Pick 5 on Sunday with racing from Churchill Downs and Belmont Park.

The Cross Country Pick 5 requires bettors to pick the winner of five select races from tracks across the country. The minimum bet for the multi-track, multi-race wager is 50 cents. Wagering on the Cross Country Pick 5 is available on ADW platforms and at simulcast facilities across the country with each week featuring a mandatory payout of the net pool. The Cross Country Pick 5, boasting a low 15 percent takeout, offers sequences with races from Belmont Park and partner tracks across the country.

Sunday’s sequence kicks off in Race 4 at 2:13 p.m. Eastern at Churchill Downs with an overflow field of 3-year-olds and up traveling one-mile in a maiden special weight. The wide-open affair is led by Noises Off, who will make his turf debut off a trio of runner-up efforts over the Turfway Park synthetic for trainer Paulo Lobo.

The Jeff Engler-trained first-time starter Pitagore is out of the graded-stakes placed turf mare Pitamakan. A 4-year-old Empire Maker gelding, Pitagore will debut off a series of bullet works over the Turfway Park synthetic. First-time starter Fireball Fun, a sophomore son of Hard Spun for trainer Al Stall, Jr., is out of the Cape Blanco mare Barbecca, who is a half-sister to turf stakes winner Creative Thinking.

Action switches to Belmont for the next three legs, beginning with a one-mile maiden claimer [Race 4, 2:32 p.m.] over the Widener for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up led by the Chad Brown-trained Addressable Market. The Kodiac sophomore will add blinkers as she makes her first start since a close fourth in a $75,000 maiden claiming route in November over turf at Aqueduct Racetrack.

The overflow field includes the Robert Falcone, Jr.-trained Naa Dudette, who earned a field-best 70 Beyer Speed Figure last out when closing to finish third in a one-mile and 70 yard synthetic test at Gulfstream Park. Nightsaber could be the pacesetter after demonstrating brief speed last out when fourth in a 1 1/16-mile maiden claimer over the Big A turf while racing first off the claim for conditioner Horacio De Paz.

The middle leg [Race 6, 3:34] attracted 12 fillies and mares 3-years-old and up plus two also-eligible entrants for a six-furlong state-bred inner turf allowance topped by last-out maiden winners Longlive the Queen and Stolen Future.

Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse sent out Stolen Future for a second-out score sprinting six furlongs over the Big A turf against fellow New York-breds on April 8, while the Christophe Clement-conditioned Longlive the Queen took on open company on December 24 over the Gulfstream synthetic and notched a 1 1/2-length win over next-out maiden winner Shez Speightful. Sikum, who boasts a record of 9-2-3-0 on grass, closed to finish second at odds of 32-1 last out for trainer Jose Camejo in a state-bred turf allowance sprint on April 22 at the Big A.

The penultimate leg [Race 7, 4:08 p.m.] offers another overflow field of 3-year-olds and up battling one-mile over the Widener in a state-bred allowance tilt featuring a return to turf for multiple graded-stakes placed General Banker. Trained by James Ferraro, the Central Banker colt completed the trifecta in the Jerome, Grade 3 Withers and Grade 3 Gotham over the Big A main track while on the Kentucky Derby trail. He has finished second in 2-of-4 turf starts, including a 1 1/16-mile state-bred maiden in October at Belmont at the Big A.

He will be challenged by Marinara Sauced, a 4-year-old Laoban gelding that boasts a record of 5-1-1-1 on turf and will be making his first start for trainer Amira Chichakly; and King of Comedy, who graduated in prominent fashion in November over the Big A turf for trainer Mike Maker in a race that third-place finisher Clear Conscience exited to win impressively.

The sequence concludes at Churchill [Race 8, 4:22 p.m.] as a field of 12 sophomores travel nine furlongs in an allowance test featuring Really Good, who finished third last year in both the Juvenile at Kentucky Downs and Grade 2 Bourbon at Keeneland.

Trained by Mike Maker, the Hard Spun colt endured a troubled trip last out in his seasonal debut at this distance and condition. Viable contenders are led by Salute the Stars, by Candy Ride, who was transferred to trainer Brad Cox following his last-out maiden score in August over the Ellis Park turf; the Jack Sisterson-trained Baby Billy, who graduated at this distance three starts back over the Gulfstream green; and turf maiden-winner Santorini, who returns to the lawn following a third-place finish last out over synthetic in the Rushaway at Turfway Park for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher. 

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

America’s Day at the Races will present daily coverage and analysis of the spring/summer meet at Belmont Park on the networks of FOX Sports. For the complete broadcast schedule, visit https://www.nyra.com/belmont/racing/tv-schedule.

NYRA Bets is the best way to bet every race of the Belmont spring/summer meet. Available to horse players nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.

Cross Country Pick 5 – Sunday, May 14

Leg A: Churchill Downs, Race 4 – MSW (2:13 p.m. Eastern)

Leg B: Belmont Park, Race 4 – maiden claimer (2:32 p.m.)

Leg C: Belmont Park, Race 6 – allowance (3:34 p.m.)

Leg D: Belmont Park, Race 7 – allowance (4:08 p.m.)

Leg E: Churchill Downs, Race 8 – allowance (4:22 p.m.)