Quills Picks Winners – Thursday 6/4 – Saratoga Race 8
Day two of the Belmont Stakes Festival at Saratoga takes us on to the Mellon (or outer) turf course for today’s race of the day. The featured race today is the Grade 2 Intercontinental Stakes. Older fillies and mares will sprint five and a half furlongs on the turf course.
Saratoga Race 8 – Intercontinental Stakes (Grade 2)
The 11 Bam’s Bliss Kiss (5/2 morning line) is favored, but she will be scratched because the filly is entered for the main track only.
Assuming the favoritism role is the 3 In Our Time (3/1 ML). She returned from a 10-week break with a win in the Grade 2 Giant’s Causeway at Keeneland. She is usually on the lead, but in her last race, this mare took over at the top of the stretch for the win. The favorite is fast, but did she find a new way to run last time out?
The 9 Shoot It True (7/2 ML) will be on the outside here and likes to close from the back of the Pack. She did that last month in the Grade 2 Unbridled Sidney at Churchill Downs and finished second. If the field goes too fast into and on the turn, things will get up nicely for her.
The 7 Gratefully (4/1 ML) is five for five in her career after winning the Wishing Well at Santa Anita in February. She steps up here into graded Stakes company and does fit. She has shown versatility with her January win from winning off the pace on the grass but has won on the lead as well. But if she goes for the lead with the speed in this race, she may be five for six.
The 4 Ready to Jam (10/1 ML) races for the first time since October at Aqueduct where she closed while wide to win the Autumn Days Stakes. She changed hands since that race and runs for a trainer to wins with horses who wins with horses racing for his barn for the first time and with horses off of layoffs longer than six months. She might need a race, but she does look like a dangerous longshot here.
Joe’s Pick
There is a ton of speed and for my sake I’m hoping they all go for the lead. A few of these horses only know one way to run and that’s on the lead. This will set things up for Shoot It True and Ready to Jam. I think Shoot It True will get up late for the win.
I’m calling this race 9-4-7-3 and my play is $20 to win on the 9. Best of luck and I’ll see you in the winner’s circle!
