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​Saturday’s Cross Country Pick 5 to feature racing from Belmont Park, Churchill Downs and Monmouth Park

by Keith McCalmont

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) will host a Cross Country Pick 5 on Saturday with racing from Belmont Park, Churchill Downs and Monmouth 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.

Saturday’s sequence kicks off in Race 8 at 4:22 p.m. Eastern at Churchill Downs with a 5 1/2-furlong turf allowance for fillies and mares led by the stakes-placed Numero Seis, who will make her seasonal debut for trainer Joe Sharp. The Frosted sophomore graduated in September at this distance over the Saratoga Race Course turf and followed 12 days later with a third-place finish in the Untapable at Kentucky Downs. The overflow field includes last-out maiden winners Secret Money for trainer Brendan Walsh and All That for Brad Cox.

Action switches to Monmouth [Race 9, 4:35 p.m.] for the second leg featuring a similar 5 1/2-furlong turf allowance for fillies and mares. The wide-open affair includes the multiple stakes-placed Captainsdaughter, who has banked $350,198 for trainer Russell Cash; the French-bred Anna Karenine for four-time Eclipse Award-winning conditioner Chad Brown; and Michael Dini’s Explosive Exchange, who turns back in distance from a pair of placings in one-mile turf tilts at Tampa Bay Downs.

The middle leg will see a field of 11 optional-claimers 3-years-old and up battle seven furlongs over Belmont’s Widener turf [Race 10, 5:43 p.m.] featuring the streaking Runningwscissors. The David Jacobson trainee, a 7-year-old New York-bred son of Congaree, has posted back-to-back turf sprint scores led by a last-out open optional-claiming win that garnered a 94 Beyer Speed Figure. Into the Sunrise, a 5-year-old Into Mischief gelding trained by Hall of Famer Mark Casse, is a four-time turf winner; while King Angelo, who has hit the board in 7-of-10 turf tries, returns to the green for trainer Jorge Abreu.

The penultimate leg returns to Churchill Downs for the Grade 3 Louisville [Race 11, 5:58 p.m.], a 12-furlong turf marathon for older horses that drew a strong field of 11 topped by multiple graded-stakes winning millionaire Tiz the Bomb. 

The 4-year-old Hit It a Bomb colt, trained by Kenny McPeek, boasts graded scores in the 2021 Grade 2 Bourbon at Keeneland and last year’s Grade 3 Jeff Ruby Steaks over the Turfway Park synthetic. He earned a Grade 1-placing when closing to finish second in the 2021 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf. A talented field includes millionaire aspirant Therapist [39-12-4-8 $970,475], a New York-bred who made the grade last out in the Grade 2 Pan American for trainer Michael Maker, besting returning rival Bay Street Money by three-quarters of a length in the 12-furlong test for older horses at Gulfstream Park.

The sequence concludes in Race 11 at 6:15 p.m. as a field of nine maidens 3-years-old and up travel a one-turn mile over Big Sandy which is topped by a pair of Cox-trained contenders in Global Stage and First Money.

Gary and Mary West’s Global Stage, a 4-year-old Street Sense colt, will stretch out after posting strong Beyers in a pair of six-furlong sprints at Oaklawn Park [87] and Keeneland [88]. Calumet Farm’s First Money, a City of Light sophomore, made his first two starts at Aqueduct Racetrack, finishing a pacesetting third in a one-turn mile maiden before landing a fading fifth in a nine-furlong route last out. The Brown-trained Ocasek will look to let the good times roll at second asking after a good second on debut in March at the Big A to the well-regarded Harrodsburg. 

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 – Saturday, May 20

Leg A: Churchill Downs, Race 8 – ALW (4:22 p.m. Eastern)

Leg B: Monmouth Park, Race 9 – ALW (4:35 p.m.)

Leg C: Belmont Park, Race 10 – AOC (5:43 p.m.)

Leg D: Churchill Downs, Race11 – G3 Louisville (5:58 p.m.)

Leg E: Belmont Park, Race 11 – MSW (6:15 p.m.)