On Friday at Oaklawn Park, the featured race is the 27th edition of the $100,000 Fifth Season Stakes. Carded for a mile and a sixteenth, the race has drawn a field of nine colts and geldings.
Headlining the field at morning line odds of 7-2 is Code West for trainer Boyd Caster. A five-year-old son of Lemon Drop Kid, he has won four of his eighteen starts including a score in the Matt Winn (G3). He closed out his 2014 season with one win from seven starts and was last seen finishing third as the favorite in the Zia Park Distance Championship Handicap. M. Clifton Berry will remain in the irons and they will break from post position three.
Second choice at 4-1 on the morning line is Carve, a graded stakes winning son of First Samurai trained by Brad Cox. The five-year-old gelding will be making his first start since finishing sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1) and has been training forwardly at Oaklawn Park. Three of his six lifetime victories have come at Oaklawn and he is scheduled to break from post position four under Jesus Castanon.
Also in the field at morning line odds of 8-1 is Zee Bros for trainer D. Wayne Lukas. A five-year-old son of Brother Derek, the bay has won four of his fifteen career starts and closed out the past year with a pair of victories including an upset win in the De Francis Dash. He has been training steadily at Oaklawn for his seasonal debut and will have Jon Court aboard for the first time from post position two.
The field is set for the $1 million Haskell, where Nyquist will be trying to re-stake his claim as the top three-year-old in the country.
On Sunday at Monmouth Park, the featured race is the $300,000 United Nations Stakes. Scheduled to be run at a mile and three-eighths on the turf, the Grade 1 event has drawn a field of ten colts and geldings.
On Sunday at Monmouth Park, the featured race is the $150,000 Pegasus Stakes, a key prep race for the Haskell Invitational (G1). The Grade 3 event will be contested at a mile and a sixteenth and has drawn a field of seven three-year-olds.
With five grade 1 races and a grade 2, the undercard for the June 11 Belmont stakes could be the best single day of racing on the calendar outside of the Breeders’ Cup.
Haskell Invitational Picks for Monmouth Sunday
29 July 2016The field is set for the $1 million Haskell, where Nyquist will be trying to re-stake his claim as the top three-year-old in the country....
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