Pick 6 plungers chasing the $456,860 carryover at Belmont Park got a reprieve yesterday when the Pick 6 was postponed due to technical difficulties. The final five races (6-10) of today’s Pick 6 all are Grade 1 preps for the Breeders’ Cup, four weeks away on Nov. 4 at Churchill Downs. None of those stakes drew fields larger than seven, so pick 6 bettors won’t have to spread their tickets.
Most will single the mighty Bernardini in the day’s finale, the $750,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup at a mile-and-a-quarter. The son of A.P. Indy assumed the mantle of the best 3-year-old in training with a 51/4-length victory in the Preakness, and since then won the Jim Dandy by nine lengths and the Travers by 71/2. After losing his first start, Bernardini has won five straight.
He faces three rivals: Euro-invader Dylan Thomas, winner of the Irish Derby and Irish Champion Stakes, who is trying dirt for the first time; and Nick Zito’s pair of 4-year-olds, Wanderin Boy, front-running winner of the Brooklyn Handicap, and longshot Andromeda’s Hero.
“I’ve never been around a horse quite this talented,” Bernardini trainer Tom Albertrani said. Albertrani was the assistant trainer of international superstars Cigar and Dubai Millennium, so that’s quite a statement.
Six fillies and mares contest the $600,000 Beldame at a mile-and-an-eighth. Fleet Indian, runaway winner of seven straight starts, faces tough opposition in Round Pond, Balletto and Take D’Tour.
Seven distaffers go a mile-and-a-quarter on turf in the $600,000 Flower Bowl. Graham Motion’s hard-hitting mare Film Maker, beaten 1½ lengths in the last two Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf races, should be along late to run down Angara and Argentina, who finished heads apart in the Diana.
Lightning-quick 3-year-old Henny Hughes rates a slight edge over 4-year-old Silver Train in the $400,000 Vosburgh at six furlongs. In the $600,000 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at a mile-and-a-half, the French filly Freedonia is the pick over America’s English Channel.