A field of 10 will line up in the $200,000 Pennine Ridge (G3) at Belmont Park on Saturday (© Cheryl Quigley | Dreamstime.com)
Trainer Chad Brown will saddle three runners in Saturday’s $200,000 Pennine Ridge (G3) going nine furlongs on the turf and two of his contenders look like the major players in the field of 10.
Brown will send out the morning line favorite Camelot Kitten (8-5), who is coming off a victory in the American Turf (G2) at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby Day. The well bred son of Kitten’s Joy will have Irad Ortiz, Jr. aboard again and will break from the two post.
Converge may be the value among the Brown runners, 6-1 on the morning line. He did not fire his best in a sixth place finish in the American Turf, but did win the Palm Beach (G3) at Gulfstream Park back in February.
Recent maiden winner Call Provision (12-1) is the third Brown runner and will be facing winners for the first time after scoring in his debut going long on the turf at Aqueduct.
Saturday’s Best Plays Report will include my strongest plays from Belmont Park and some of the action from the Summit of Speed Preview Day at Gulfstream Park.
Let’s head out to Belmont Park for Saturday’s featured race of the day:
Belmont Park Race 8 The Pennine Ridge (G3) Post time 5:13 ET
8 Converge 6-1
2 Camelot Kitten 8-5
6 Dressed in Hermes 10-1
4 Azar 5-1
Converge is one of three runners in here sent out by the Chad Brown barn. The colt came up short last out in a sixth place finish in the American Turf (G2) which was won by his stablemate Camelot Kitten, who is going to be the favorite in here. The colt won the palm Beach (G3) three back at Gulfstream Park off a four-month layoff in an impressive outing and then was a decent fourth in the Transylvania (G3) at Keeneland over good ground where he was off a step slow and had to steady in traffic nearing the 5/16’s.
He looks as if he is going to be able to handle his first trip at nine furlongs. He is by Sidney’s Candy out of the stakes winner Atlantic Ocean ($678,210). He looks capable of moving forward off his last effort and is going to be a fair price in this spot.
Camelot Kitten came up the inside with a good rally to get up late and win the American Turf last out at 18-1. The third place finisher Surgical Strike returned to win the Arlington Classic (G3) at Arlington Park on May 28. This guy showed plenty of promise as a juvenile, breaking his maiden on turf here going long in his debut and then running a good second in the Bourbon (G3) over yielding ground at Keeneland.
He was not a threat in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (G1) but looks back on track. He looks as if he will relish the extra ground. He is a full brother to $1.3 million earner Bobby’s Kitten.
Dressed in Hermes also exits the American Turf where he came with a very wide run to finish seventh at 11-1. The gelding won the Pasadena at Santa Anita over good ground two back and won the Cecil DeMille (G3) over the turf at Del Mar last November. He draws a better spot here and worth tossing in the mix if he goes off near his 10-1 morning line.
Belmont Stakes Racing Festival June 7-9 $29.95
Get Michael’s full card reports for ALL three days of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival from Thursday June 9 to Saturday June 11! 19 stakes and over $10 million in purses including the $1.5 million Belmont Stakes!
