Another nice day here in DerbyTown, a little hot, with temps expected to reach about 86 later today and a chance of thunderstorms before the day is through. An 11-race twilight card starts at 2:45 ET; this will be the last such twilight card, since we get the first of 4 straight night cards (post 6 ET) starting next Friday, June 11.
Plenty of talk around here about the Belmont, as you might expect, with 3 local horses in the lineup: First Dude, Stately Victor, and Stay Put. Also, we're just a little more than a week out from the G1 Foster, which is shaping up with 6-8 older horses, led by Blame.
Apparently C.Borel and J.Theriot have some travel arrangements that are preventing them from riding later in the day today, as they've taken off mounts in the last 4 races, including Borel taking off favored Land of the Giants for T.Pletcher in the nominal feature, the 10th.
Here follow the early changes. Note that with the chance of rain for later, there still are no changes in the grass races in case the MTOs might be able to get in.
Race 1 - SCR #1 Church Mouse
Race 6 - SCR #8 Mr. Influential
Race 8 - SCR #1 Lil Dottie; jockey TBA for #4 Our Miss Brookside;
Race 9 - jockey TBA for #4 Falling Knife; C.Lanerie rides #5 Pointing Home
Race 10 - jockey TBA for #1 Land of the Giants; B.HernandezJr. rides #5 Baryshnikov
Race 11 - M.Mena rides #3 Yukon Pete; R.Albarado rides #4 Big Ross
