Let's Play The Early Pick Five at Belmont

It's a crisp fall day here in New York and Belmont Park looks absolutely perfect today. Further, looking through the card, I think there could be some value in the early Pick Five, so I decided to take a crack at it and maybe we can head into Thursday night with some added cushion to the bankroll. Let's check it out.

Race One: These Maiden Special Weights to open the card are absolute wild cards. I'd expect the Nevin entry to take a lot of money simply because you're getting two for the price of one, and I'm definitely using them. My top choice is going to be the George Weaver horse, (2) Vermont Billy with Irad Ortiz, Jr. aboard. This horse has some very nice works leading into this race and while (5)  Ethos certainly could benefit from the class drop, I like the look of this firster. Still it's a spread race, so I'll use (1), (2), (3), (5).

Race Two: Let's be clear here, this race stinks. These horses have mostly all run at or close to this level before and not done very well. I'm going to use my top two choices here and pray I get out of this alive. I think the (4)Justintimeforwine is my top choice because this horse has some early speed, hasn't run poorly at this level, and gets Kendrick Carmouche aboard who is very aggressive in going for the front. I think he might just get there and not look back. I'll also use the (11) Nero's Fiddle who has also hit the board several times at this level.

Race Three: I went light in Race Two in part because I want to go deep here. There is not a lot separating this group. My top choices here were the Christophe Clement horses. The (6) Taos and the (8) Duc de Calas both look very competitive at this level, however I think this is the definition of a wide open race, so I'm pressing the ALL button here.

Race Four: Here's our single. The (8) Cover Photo from the Linda Rice barn is my single here. Cover Photo has been so close the last few times and has just come up short. Now with the drop I expect her to get the job done.

Race Five: I'm going to spread here, but let me be clear, if you want to shorten up a ticket I'd use the (2) Vintage Hollywood no matter what. Orlando Noda's barn is on fire and he gets Irad back in the saddle on this one who won at Saratoga on their opening weekend this year. This horse is sneaky here and has a big shot. The gelding is my top choice. I'm also using (3-6).

BlackJack's Early Belmont Pick Five: 1,2,3,5/4,11/1,2,3,4,5,6,8/8/2,3,4,5,6---$140 for .50 cents

Let's cash it!