In addition to Custom for Carlos, add Cheyenne Nation (3rd race, 5-2 ML) to the list of scratched morning-line favorites.
Avenging Spirit, who scratched from yesterday's Hill Prince, may wind up the choice in the one-mile maiden race on the Widener turf, and is the one to catch, but my money says Wonder Beyond will improve today.
A half-brother to dual Grade 1 turf stakes winner Wonder Again, Wonder Beyond was beaten a length or so by Avenging Spirit in his first start of the year, but the fractions were very slow and he was in tight quarters on the inside through the lane.
Bear in mind that with a 13-race card, there are pick-4s on races 2-5, 8-11, and 10-13. The all-stakes, $1 million guaranteed pick-4 begins with the True North (8th) at 4:00 p.m. Eastern and concludes with the Belmont Stakes.
The all-stakes, $1 million guaranteed pick-6 begins with the Woody Stephens (6th) at 2:34 p.m., and also ends wiith the Belmont. It gets a jump-start with a two-day carryover of $129,962 already in the kitty.
In addition to Custom for Carlos, Strasbourg is also out of the True North.
Currently, the only other scratch in the pick-6 races is Hot Trip (9th), which reduces the Acorn field to 12.
